Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons
by Camorite
Summary: Harry, Ron, and Hermione must begin thier greatest adventure of them all, the hunt for Voldemorts Horcruxes. They are aided in this adventure by a mysterious group called the Silver Dragons. Ch 11 is now up, please R & R this story.
1. The Begining of the End

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End**

"What did you say?" Asked a very stern faced young man with a touch of disbelief in his voice.

"Albus Dumbledore was killed when a group of Death Eaters, who were let in by a 6th year student at Hogwarts named Draco Malfoy raided the school." Said a very sullen faced older man with a touch of resignation in his voice.

"Does the Ministry of Magic know which one of them did it?" asked a very beautiful young woman who wore an unreadable expression on her face.

"They know exactly who did it," the older man said, now with a touch of anger in his voice.

"Don't keep us in suspense Victor, who did it?" the younger man asked.

"Severus Snape!" Victor said in a matter of fact voice.

There was a short silence in the room, "Can we safely assume that Snape got away?" The young lady asked.

"I'm afraid he did, Samantha," Victor said, "he and Draco Malfoy that is." He paused for a moment to let this sink in, "But on the bright side, the ministry did capture a few Death Eaters, including Fenrir Greyback."

"Greyback!" stated the man, "Isn't he a major leader in the Werewolf community?"

"Not to mention one of the most vicious and brutal servants that Lord Voldemort has ever had John," Victor said.

Both John and Samantha exchanged glances "So what is going to happen to Hogwarts now?" John asked.

Victor let out a sigh, "More than likely it will be closed down until the current situation can be resolved."

"And what does that mean for the boy, Harry Potter?" Samantha asked.

Victor shrugged, "I can't answer that question, but I do know that Potter will be going back home with the rest of the students today after the funeral." Victor looked both John and Samantha in the eye, "Your mission is to look after the boy, and try to find out, if he knows, what Dumbledore was up to when he was killed." Anticipating the next question that his operatives would be asking, "I have reason to believe that Harry Potter went somewhere with Dumbledore just before he was killed."

"And what if he does not want to tell us why they weren't at Hogwarts that night?" John asked.

"Then you are to follow him, and assist him whenever he needs your help." Victor said.

John and Samantha looked at each other as if trying to decide who would ask an important question that had to be asked and yet nobody wanted to ask it. John lost that match, "Why is this boy so important, besides the obvious reasons."

Victor leaned back in his chair, "I guess that I owe you too that much. You have of course read about how Potter was there when the Death Eaters attacked the Ministry of Magic in the _Daily Prophet_?" both John and Samantha nodded, "Well, the _Prophet_ had the story right, if not only partially so, the Death Eaters were after a prophecy that was made to Dumbledore almost 17 years ago."

"Wasn't that about the time that Voldemort tried to kill Potter." Samantha asked.

Victor shook his head, "I'm afraid that you are off by just over a year, but anyway that prophecy stated, in a nut shell, that one would come that would have the power to defeat Voldemort, but it also stated that neither could live as long as the other survived." Victor stared at each of them in turn to make sure that they both understood, "Now, you both had better get going so that you will be there when Harry arrives at Number Four Privet Drive."

Without anymore questions or comments, both of them turned and left Victor alone in the room. The older man pulled out a photo of a wizened old man with a long white beard and equally long white hair that mostly covered the robes that he wore standing next to himself, both of them were waving. A tear formed in Victor's eye as he looked at the picture, "It was one hell of a run Albus," he said to the photo, "but somehow I never would have suspected that I would outlive you." Still holding the photo in one hand, Victor looked up at a mural that hung on the wall. The picture on it was of a silver colored dragon that was standing upright, and had a sword in one claw, a shield in the other, and had a serpent under one of the rear claws.

He then pulled up the sleeve of his shirt, and revealed a silver colored tattoo with an image just like the mural on the wall. "I swear Albus, the Silver Dragons will do everything in our power to bring Voldemort and Snape to justice." And with that the tattoo began to glow.

After the funeral for Professor Dumbledore, all of the students boarded the Hogwarts Express in order to return home. Harry Potter sat in the compartment that he shared with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and just stared at the piece of parchment that was in the locket that he and Dumbledore had recovered from the cave just before he was killed by Snape for most of the journey back to Kings Cross station, were he had been told that a Ministry of Magic car and a guard would be waiting to take him back to the Dursleys. He had not even noticed when the door had opened and Ginny, Ron's younger sister had joined them in the compartment or that Hermione and Ron (after a little coxing from Hermione) had left the compartment to do their rounds, which they had to do as Prefects.

The first that he knew that he was alone with Ginny was when she placed her hand on his shoulder and he looked back at her. Several weeks earlier, after Gryffindore had beaten Ravenclaw and won the Quidditch cup for the 3rd (this was not counting their 4th year when the Quidditch season had been canceled for the Tri Wizard Tournament) year in a row Harry and Ginny had finally given into how they felt, and with the approval of Ron, which Ginny claimed that she did not need or want, they had started going out together. Everything was going great until the night that Dumbledore had taken him to try and find one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, an object that he hid a piece of his soul in just in case something happened, such as the night that he had come to kill Harry, and his spell backfired on him. It was just before the funeral Harry had decided to break up with her, not because he did not care for her, but in order to protect her from the dangers that he would be putting her though if they had remained together.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked Ginny trying to sound a little angry about her being there but not doing a good job of it.

Ginny gave him a sympathetic smile "I just came to make sure that you were ok." She paused for a moment, and when she spoke again her voice had a bit of an edge to it, "I also came to tell you that I am not giving up on us that easily. I completely understand why you broke up with me, but I have also waited for you for 6 years, and I will continue to wait another 6 years if I have to. I love you Harry Potter, and I know that you love me because otherwise you would never have broken up with me."

Harry was at a loss for words, and all that he could do was stare at Ginny. Something else had caught his attention, she had said that she loved him. In all of his life at the Dursleys and even his life at Hogwarts, Harry had never had anyone say that they loved him before. All that he could do was to lean over and he and Ginny locked into a kiss. When they finally broke apart several minutes later, Harry looked into her eyes, "I can't make any promises, but maybe after I am finished at the Dursleys and I have returned to were Voldemort killed my parents, and of course after Bill and Fleur's wedding, I was planning to return to Grimmauld Place if I am able to. I would love it if you would come to stay there for a while, if your parents say that it is ok that is."

Ginny smiled at Harry and she embraced him in a huge hug. When they finally broke apart again, Harry looked at her more sternly, "But you have to make it look like we are still broken up."

Ginny nodded her understanding at this, she then drew out her wand she pointed it at the door, and the blinds closed, cutting them off from what was happening in the rest of the train.

It was dark out when the Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross station. When Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny disembarked from the train, they found Mr. and Mrs. Weasley waiting for them on the platform along with several other people all of them dressed in black business suits, and all of them wearing black sunglasses each of them also wore a stern expressionless face. Though he knew that they were really Aurors, they sort of reminded Harry of the members of the US Secret Service that protected the United States President. Mr. Weasley saw that Harry was staring at the Aurors, and told him, "On lone to us from the United States Wizard President. They have a lot more experience dealing with Death Eaters than our Aurors do."

"They have Death Eaters in the United States?" Harry asked as he watched 2 of them, one pushing a cart, go to the train to grab his trunk and Hedwig's cage.

"Not any more," Mr. Weasley said, "they hunted down all of the ones that escaped from us before Fudge even announced that You-Know-Who was back." Anticipating Harry's next question, Mr. Weasley quickly added, "Their President believed Dumbledore the moment that he announced that You-Know-Who was back, and immediately ordered all known and unknown Death Eaters hiding in their country to be hunted down.

As he watched the 2 Aurors bring his trunk to him, Harry could not help but to wonder what would have happened if that man was the Minister of Magic instead of Fudge. Harry flanked on all sides by Aurors went through the porthole, and waited for Ron who was breaking it to his parents that he would be joining Harry on his quest to hunt down Snape and Voldemort. Though Mrs. Weasley did not take the news of this very well, Mr. Weasley knew better than to argue with Ron and explained, much in the same manner that he did about Fred and George once, that Ron was now of age and had the right to do whatever he wanted to.

Hermione on the other hand still had to go and tell her parents about this and as soon as her trunk was loaded into the car she disapparated with a loud crack, but not before promising that she would meet up with them at the Dursleys. With a final hug from Mrs. Weasley for each of them, a handshake from Mr. Weasley, and a smile from Ginny that warmed Harry up on the inside, he and Ron climbed into the back of the car and drove off down the road.

"So Harry," Ron began when they could no longer see his parents or Ginny, "I guess that this is the end of our time at Hogwarts."

Harry thought about this for a moment, "Actually Ron, I can't help but to feel that it is the beginning of the end." And though he gave Ron a knowing smile, he did not mention 'For either me or Voldemort'.

The car pulled up Number 4 Privet Drive around 11:00 that evening, and sure enough there was a light on in the house. Two of the Aurors got out of the car and went into the house to make sure that everything was ok, while the others got Harry, Ron, and Hermione's trunks out of the car. Several minutes later one of them returned to the car, "With the exception of the muggles that are in there, the house is clear."

Harry and Ron made their way to the house the three Aurors that carried their trunks as well as the cages that Hedwig and Pigwidgeon, and the basket that Hermione's cat Crookshanks was currently in were right behind them. When they entered the house Harry found that the Auror that had not come back out to the car was sitting there with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, both of them with horrified looks on their faces.

After taking everything up to Harry's room, the Auror that seemed to be in charge walked up to Harry and Ron and gave each of them a card with an incantation on it, "If you need any further assistance Mr. Potter, just say the incantation on this card and one of my teams will be at your side in no time."

"Thanks!" Harry said as he and Ron took the cards and pocketed them for safe keeping.

The Auror then bowed his head to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia (Harry thought that he heard a snort from Uncle Vernon) and he left the house right behind the other three Aurors. Uncle Vernon waited till the headlights of the Ministry car had vanished, and wasted no time in glaring at Harry and Ron "What the bloody hell was that all about, and" he began staring intently at Ron, "what the bloody hell is he doing here?"

Harry looked back at Ron who was turning a little red in the face, and then turned to face Uncle Vernon "He's staying with us until I am FINALY able to leave this place." Harry shouted back, "And just so that you know another one of my friends will be arriving tomorrow."

Uncle Vernon looked at Harry, and then at Ron and something clicked in his mind, "It was your father that destroyed the fireplace and the sitting room, and it was your brothers that did something to Dudley's tongue."

"And you should also know," Ron put in, "that I am now 17, and am now aloud to do magic outside of Hogwarts, and so is Hermione." Ron stared Uncle Vernon down who was now suddenly looking a little worried, "So now that we have that taken care of that, I think that I am going to go up to bed." And before anyone could say another word he stormed upstairs, Harry right behind him.

"That was brilliant Ron," Harry said, "I don't think that I have seen Uncle Vernon look that scared since he first met Hagrid when Dumbledore sent him to get me before our first year."

"I don't know Harry," Ron said as he dug his pajamas out of his trunk, "I think that I should have done some magic just to get the point across." After he pulled his pajamas on, he looked at Harry and serious look on his face, "So what will be our first move when Hermione arrives in the morning?"

Harry had been thinking about this, "Well, first thing I intend to do is to try and figure out were the other 4 Horcruxes are, Hermione will be a big help there," Harry put in as he slipped his own pajamas on, "then in a couple of days we will take the Night Bus to Godric's Hollow, then with any luck after the wedding we can start hunting down the Horcruxes and start destroying them."

Ron nodded his understanding to this plan. Godric's Hollow was were Harry's parents, Lilly and James, were killed by Voldemort and were, after Lilly had died to try and save him, Harry had deflected the dreaded _Avada Kedavera_ curse, and had sent it right back at Voldemort. This one action did not only send Voldemort, now powerless, into hiding, but it also made Harry one of the most well known wizards of all time.

In a sense he completely understood why Harry wished to return to Godric's Hollow. It would allow Harry to gain some closure after the Death of Dumbledore, and maybe even Sirius as well. This would allow Harry to move on and to do what he had to in order to stop Voldemort once and for all.

With a flick of his wand Ron conjured up a sleeping bag and climbed into it while Harry climbed into his bed. "Do you think that we will be able to find all of the Horcruxes before You-Know-Who figures out what we are doing?" Ron asked as he pointed his wand at the light switch on the wall, thus turning out the lights in the room.

Setting his glasses on the nightstand next to his bed Harry shrugged "Maybe, but I doubt it. Dumbledore told me that there is the possibility that Voldemort could sense their destruction."

"And what about this R.A.B. bloke who got to the locket before you and Dumbledore did?" Ron asked.

Harry thought about this for a long moment, "If he is on our side," he began, "then hopefully the locket is not the only Horcruxes that he…"

"Or she, as Hermione might very well point out."

Harry nodded, "Or she will have done some of the work already for us, though it would be nice to meet this person so that we might be able to work together."

Harry waited for a reply from Ron, but only heard a loud snore. He felt Crookshanks leap up to lay at the foot of his bed were he curled up. Before falling off to sleep as well, Harry heard Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia walking up the steps so that they could also get some sleep.

**Authors Note:** Due to the events that unfolded in the "Half Blood Prince" I decided to completely rewrite the story to take place after that book ends. Please note that any similarities that there are between this story and the last book (whenever it comes out) are purely coincidental, and I do not claim anything, or anyone in this story as my own (except of course the characters that I created). So please do not ask me to add/remove any characters or events from this story, the only person that has the right to do this is currently living in England.


	2. Final Confesions

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 2: Final Confessions**

Hermione arrived midway through the next morning, and the three of them spent most of their time in Harry's room. She had a pencil and a sheet of paper and was writing everything that Harry could recall about his trips into Dumbledore's Pensieve as well as what Dumbledore had told him after each trip. "Ok," Hermione said after writing everything, "so far we know that at least two Horcruxes have been found and destroyed: the diary, which Lucius Malfoy had given to Ginny just before our 2nd year, and the ring, which originally belonged to Salazar Slytherin…"

"Which Dumbledore had already destroyed after our first lesson." Harry added.

"And of course," Hermione continued as if she had not just been interrupted, "the locket that had also originally belonged to Slytherin."

"Which was filched from You-Know-Who by R.A.B., whoever that is?" Ron added.

"And," Harry quickly added, "Dumbledore believed that one of them might just be Voldemort's pet snake Nagini, the one that attacked Ron's dad at the Ministry."

"Right," Hermione said, jotting this information down on the paper, "now we just have to figure out what the other two Horcruxes are and where they would be hidden."

"And lets try not to forget," Harry quickly added, "that both the Locket and the Ring were guarded by some pretty powerful enchantments, not to mention Inferi."

"Well then, it should be just like the Sorcerer's Stone all over again." Ron said. Harry and Hermione just rolled their eyes.

Not wanting to get in the middle of what could be another disagreement between Ron and Hermione, Harry walked over to the window and looked out over Privet Drive. As he gazed out, he noticed a familiar looking cat walking down the road towards them. He followed the cat as it walked into the yard of Number four, and sure enough the cat seemed almost like it was scaling the walls up to the window. Harry opened his window just in time for the cat to jump through it.

He immediately recognized the cat as Mr. Tibbles, who belonged to his neighbor Mrs. Figg. Harry had only found out 2 years earlier that she was a Squib, or a person born into a wizard family that did not have any magical powers at all. Harry saw a piece of parchment attached to Mr. Tibbles collar. Removing it, he read it to himself. The letter said;

_Dear Harry,_

_I did not get a chance to talk to you at the funeral, but if you would like to come over to my house for dinner around 6:00 tonight there are some things that we need to discuss. I also noticed that you have some of your friends from school with you, they are welcome to come along, since it is not often that I get to entertain people from our world._

_Hope to see you tonight, Sincerely_

_Arabella Figg_

_P.S. We might be joined be an old friend of mine as well._

"What's that Harry?" Ron asked.

Harry handed the letter to Ron, and after reading it, he just said "Brilliant!" Ron was not looking forward to having to cook super on his own, as Aunt Petunia had clearly told them earlier that day that she would not cook anything for them.

Hermione took the letter, "I wonder what she wants to talk to you about, Harry."

Before Harry could even try to guess, somebody had started pounding on the door. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione with a grin on his face. In order to keep Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia from spying on them, Hermione had used the _Colloportus_ charm to seal the door shut, as well as used an Imperturbable charm, so nobody could hear what was being said inside. "You'd better let him in Hermione." Harry said.

Hermione pointed her wand at the door and said, "_Alohomora_!" and the door flew open spilling Uncle Vernon flat on his face.

When he got up Uncle Vernon was fuming mad, but quickly composed himself when he saw Hermione's wand, which she still had in her hand. "Just to let you know, your Aunt Petunia and I will be going to Smeltings to pick up Dudley, and we will be gone for the night." He then paused as if to build up his courage before speaking again, "And if I find out that anything is missing from the cupboards, the pantry, or the refrigerator, even if it is just a carrot stick, you and your," he paused looking squarely at Ron and Hermione, "friends will be out of this house and on the streets." And before any of them could mutter a word, he walked out of the room slamming the door behind him hard enough for the wardrobe door to swing open.

"I could hex him you know." Ron said as he pulled out his wand.

"Ron," Hermione said in a disapproving tone, "that sort of behavior is what one would expect from a Death Eater." As she said this she pointed her wand at the door and immediately they could hear the door seal shut.

"Maybe so," Ron said with a grin, "but he would deserve it."

Hermione only rolled her eyes and shook her head. "So Harry tell me were Dumbledore found the ring at."

Harry retold them about the house were Voldemort's Grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, lived with his son Morfin and his daughter Merope, and how after both Marvolo and Morfin had been sent to Azkaban, Merope had bewitched and married Tom Riddle Sr.. He the explained how Voldemort had gone there when he was 16 and had taken Slytherin's ring from Morfin, modified his memory, and then went and killed his father with Morfin's wand. And finally he told them, again, about how Dumbledore had tracked down that Horcrux back to the house that it was taken from many years earlier.

By the time that Harry had finished telling then the story again, it was time for them to go to Mrs. Figg's for dinner. As they down the road, all three of them kept their wands no more than a few inches from their hands at any given time, until they finally arrived at Mrs. Figg's house. As they approached the front door, Mr. Tibbles stepped up in front of it, and let out a soft meow, and the door immediately opened. The three of them shrugged to each other and followed the cat inside.

The inside of Mrs. Figg's house was familiar, but at the same time it was not. On the table next to the couch sat the old pictures of Mrs. Figg's various old cats, but unlike before they were all moving around. Photos on the wall also seemed to move, Harry looked at one of the various pictures on the wall, and the man in it, Mrs. Figg had never told him who it was, smiled at him, "Welcome Harry, welcome." The man said, "My name is David, and I am Arabella's late husband. You can't imagine how much I wanted to talk to you all these years, but Arabella forbid me to say a word to you."

"That's understandable," Harry said, "especially since I was not supposed to know that she was a Squib."

Before they could say anything else, a man stepped into the hall to great them, he was a muscular man, almost six foot tall, with dark brown hair, and a well trimmed goatee. "It's good to meet all of you, I John Warrens, Arabella Figg is my mother's cousin." John extended his hand to Harry, Ron, and Hermione in turn, "I'm glad I'm finally able to meet you." John then led them into the dinning room were they saw who the old friend that Mrs. Figg mentioned in her letter was, Professor Minerva McGonagall.

"Professor!" Hermione exclaimed in disbelief.

McGonagall gave them a bit of a smile, "Hello Ms. Granger," She then looked at Harry and Ron, "and to you as well Potter and Weasley."

Just then Mrs. Figg came into the room with a couple of large white boxes in her arms. "My apologies, but I messed up dinner, so I just ordered several pizzas."

Helping themselves to pizza and a variety of drinks that John had helped Mrs. Figg to bring into the room, Hermione asked the question that the three of them had been eager to learn about, "Professor what will be happening at Hogwarts next year?"

McGonagall took a serious expression, "Actually in the last few days a lot has happened, first off the school governors appointed me acting Headmistress of Hogwarts until such time as they, and the Ministry, either find a suitable replacement to for Dumbledore," Harry fought the urge to say fat chance, "or they find that I have earned to post myself."

"Congratulations Professor." Ron said.

"Thank you Mr. Weasley." McGonagall said, "But congratulations may be premature since it has still not been decided whether or not the school will reopen next year."

"When will you know Professor?" Harry asked. He knew that this was a moot point since, more than likely he, Ron, and Hermione would be deep in the search for the remaining two Horcruxes.

McGonagall shook her head, "I don't know Potter, it could be next week, it could be tomorrow, it could even be just before it's time to board the train to come to school. I just don't have an answer for you on that one."

Harry mulled this information over in his head for a few minutes, and then asked the question that he wanted to ask, "So why are you here Professor?"

McGonagall gave him a knowing look, and nodded, "Very well Harry." She said, and Harry knew by the use of his first name that it was something that she had to tell him with a more delicate approach. "We located Professor Dumbledore's will yesterday." she said. Harry's stomach gave a little lurch. "Dumbledore wanted you to have a few things Harry." McGonagall continued as she pulled out her wand and gave it a little flick.

A long rectangular box made of silver with rubies incrusted on it appeared on the table in front of Harry. With an unsteady hand Harry opened the box and looked at what was inside of it. "I can't accept this," He said almost immediately, "it belongs to the school."

Both Ron and Hermione looked at the contents of the box, and Hermione let out a tinny gasp of astonishment. In the box was a silver sword with rubies the size of eggs incrusted in it, and on the blade was engraved the name Godric Gryffindore. Harry closed the lid and attempted to push the sword back towards McGonagall, "I just can't accept it."

McGonagall pulled out a letter from under her robes and handed it to Harry, "Before you make a decision Harry, Dumbledore wanted for you to read this letter." With somewhat trembling hands Harry opened the letter and read it;

_Dear Harry,_

_If you are reading this letter than it means that I have either died or have been killed. First off I want you to know how very proud I was to have served as your Headmaster while you were at Hogwarts. Second, you are no doubt wondering why I gave you Godric Gryffindore's sword._

_The story begins when you first pulled it out of the Sorting Hat in your second year during your battle with the basilisk. If you remember correctly I told you that only a true Gryffindore could have pulled that sword out of the hat. I did not tell you at the time, nor did I ever mention that you were the only Gryffindore that could have pulled off this feet, not because of your destiny, but because you are the last descendent of Godric Gryffindore._

Harry read that part of the letter again just to make sure that he read it right, then with his head spinning he continued to read;

_It is because of this that Lord Voldemort went after you when you and not Neville Longbottom when he heard about the prophecy, for he figured that only a fellow heir to one of the founders of Hogwarts could have the power and skill to defeat him. So therefore the sword is rightfully yours Harry, and I hope that you use it well._

_In addition to the sword I have instructed that my personal diary be given to you. Please do not worry about there being anything personal in it, the diary is only a collection of spells that I have created as well as information that could help you to stopping Lord Voldemort._

_Finally Harry I have ordered that the full resources of Hogwarts be made available to you so that you can have all the help that you need to finally deliver our world from the darkness that Voldemort has shrouded it in._

_Lastly I wish for you to know that you are by far one of the most able and cunning young wizards that it has been my pleasure of teaching at Hogwarts. I could not have been prouder of your accomplishments if you were my own child, and hope that you will never forget all the things that I have personally taught you over the last few years. Good luck Harry, and as some muggles say God Bless._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Harry read over the letter once again, and then wiped a tear from under his eye before handing the letter to Ron and Hermione to read. He looked down at the gleaming sword and then to Professor McGonagall and nodded his understanding. Smiling McGonagall pulled reached into her robe again and pulled out a very old looking small leather clad book and handed it to Harry, who took it without a word. He opened up the cover and saw written there '_This book is the property of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_'.

"Before we get to anything else Harry," McGonagall said, "I received this earlier today from Tonks, who got it from the new secret keeper for the order." Once again McGonagall reached into her robes and pulled out a small piece of parchment, which she handed to Harry. It said on it;

**_The Headquarters for the Order of the _****_Phoenix_****_ is located at Number _****_Twelve Grimmauld Place_**

After reading this, Harry once again passed the note to Ron and then to Hermione, who in turn set it on fire with her wand, but not before he thought that he saw John, who had remained mysteriously quiet during the entire conversation, sneak a peak over Hermione's shoulder. "So who is the new secret keeper for the Order?" she asked.

"I can't say Ms. Granger," McGonagall said, "Dumbledore made sure that the responsibility of being secret keeper for the Order was passed on should he be killed, so he chose four of us as backup keepers. I am afraid that it could be any one of them."

"You mean that you don't know who they were?" Ron asked.

"Once again I am afraid not Mr. Weasley." McGonagall said, and by the tone of her voice this meant that the discussion was over.

The rest of the night was given to sharing memories and stories. Mrs. Figg even told them about how she and McGonagall had known each other since they were little girls. McGonagall had of course gone on to attend and then teach at Hogwarts, while Mrs. Figg had been sent to a special school for squibs that taught them how to behave in the muggle world, as well as some of the most basic of potion making. As it turned out, it had been McGonagall that had recommended her to Dumbledore for the job of watching over Harry as he grew up and then to make regular reports back on his progress.

Finally at around 10:00 Harry, Ron, and Hermione said their goodbyes to John, Mrs. Figg, and Professor McGonagall, who had told them that she was staying for a night cap, and headed back to Number Four.

John watched them walk away, and then turned to face McGonagall, "He's not what I expected him to be."

McGonagall nodded, "Potter's a very special young man, and so are his friends." She looked at the window, "I just hope that what I suspect they are doing does not lead to one, if not all of them being killed by You-Know-Who's followers."

"I don't think that you will have to worry about Harry," Mrs. Figg said as she began to clean up, "If he could put up with that useless lump of a cousin of his, not to mention the equally useless Vernon and nosey Petunia, I think that he can handle a few Death Eaters, not to mention He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"I hope that you are right Arabella," McGonagall said, "I just hope that you are right."

"If you ladies will excuse me," John said breaking the silence that had filled the room, "I have to report to my superior what little information that I got from Potter." And with that John left the room, and once again all was silent.

After returning to Number Four Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately got dressed and climbed into bed. Harry who had given his bed to Hermione climbed into a second cot that Ron had conjured up and pulled out Dumbledore's diary. "So what kind of stuff is in there Harry?" Ron asked as he stifled a yawn.

"Well as the letter that I showed you said, it is a collection of spells and information that Dumbledore collected over the years."

"I still can't believe that you are a descendent of the founder of our house Harry." Hermione said as Crookshanks leapt up next to her on the bed.

"Yeah Mate," Ron added, "that is so cool."

Harry looked over at the box, which he had placed on top of his wardrobe "Well the last thing that we need is for Voldemort to learn that I have this. He will probable try to steal it and turn it into one of his Horcruxes."

"So what will you do with it?" Hermione asked.

Harry thought about it for a moment, "I think that we will make a quick trip to Diagon Alley so that I can put it in my vault at Gringotts."

"And while we are there," Ron put in, "we can stock up on supplies that we will need at Fred and George's shop."

"Sounds like a good plan," Hermione said as she also stifled a yawn, "well good night." She said and pointed her wand at the light switch immediately plunging the room into darkness. Harry put one of his hands behind his head and lay there for a short time thinking, as he often thought about these days, how everything had been so much simpler only a few weeks earlier.

**Authors Note:** Just to clear up some things that people had problems with in Chapter 1. First off, the American Aurors are **NOT** going to be making regular appearances in this story, I just thought that it would be funny to add in something about the mysterious men (or women) in black suits, and what they actually are (at least in this story). Second, because I decided to add them to my story, I have been accused of making it sound like American Aurors (or just Americans in general) are better than their British counterparts. This was not my intention, I was only trying to state that there were very few Death Eaters in the USA and that made it easier (in some ways) to catch them than Death Eaters in England. I should also point out that two of the Silver Dragons that I have introduced are American, and one of them is of Japanese decent. Try and guess which ones those are.


	3. Surprise at Gringotts

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 3: Surprise at Gringotts**

Harry, Ron, and Hermione woke up early the next morning. They quickly dressed in muggle clothes, and after sealing the door to Harry's room, left the house. The three of them walked for a few blocks until Harry stopped and looked around, "This should do it." He said, and held out his wand hand. There was a loud BANG as a purple triple-decker bus appeared. A witch wearing what looked like a muggle conductor's suit and hat stepped out of the bus.

"Welcome to the Night Bus, emergency transportation for the stranded witch or wizard," she said as if reciting it off a card.

Before she could say anything else, Ernie the Night Bus driver shouted at her, "You don't need to tell them all that April." April gave Ernie an abashed look and stepped out of the way.

"Hi Ernie!" Harry said as he started pulling out some Sickles for the toll.

Ernie held up his hand, "You don't need to pay Harry," and looked back at Ron and Hermione, he added, "none of you do." And seeing the looks on their faces, he quickly added, "It is the least I can do after what you tried to do for Stan, not to mention it's my way of paying tribute to Dumbledore."

Harry thought about this for a moment, and nodded. Ernie was, of course, referring to Stan Shunpike, who was the usual conductor for the Night Bus. "How is Stan doing?" he asked as he looked around, the brass bed that lined the Night Bus during the night time were still out.

Ernie shrugged, "I have not had time to go and see him lately, but I have heard he is doing ok, luckily the dementors are no longer there, so it is not as bad for him as it used to be." Then all business Ernie asked, "So were are you going today?"

"The Leaky Cauldron," Harry said.

Ernie nodded, "Then grab a seat and hang on." Before any of them could move, there was another loud BANG and all of the beds, which lined the floor, rolled backwards, and immediately rolled back into position.

Not wanting to get hit by the shifting beds, every time the bus stopped or took off again, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to the top floor, and found that it was completely empty. Sitting down on one of the beds, Harry placed the case with the sword on it, which was wrapped in a brown paper, next to him on the bed. Ron, who had the copy of the _Daily Prophet_, which had been delivered just before they left, and Hermione, who had Dumbledore's diary, kept their stuff with them. Both of them sat on the same bed. She started reading the diary once she was seated.

With another loud BANG, Harry grabbed for the case, just as the bed he was sitting on rolled forward, which banged into the bed Ron and Hermione were sitting on. "This is mental mate," Ron said to Harry.

"I know this is not the best way to travel," Hermione said, closing the diary, "but until either you and Harry pass your apparition test, or we can get a hold of some Floo Powder, this is the only other way for us to travel." There was another BANG and all of the beds rolled backwards again.

"Speaking of which," Ron put in when their bed stopped moving, "we need to figure out what all we need to pick up while in Diagon Alley."

"We can get a lot of our stuff from Fred and George," Harry said, "they told me last year that since I gave them the gold they used to get started with that I was entitled to take anything from the store for free."

"That will be a good start," Hermione said, "but we still need other supplies that Fred and George don't offer in their shop."

"And," Harry added, patting the case, "I need to stop at Gringotts and put this in my vault so Voldemort can't get his hands on it."

BANG, all of the beds rolled forwards, just as a magically magnified voice called out "The Leaky Cauldron!"

Harry grabbed the case, and the three of them climbed down the steps to the first floor, were they thanked by Ernie and April, and stepped off the bus. They walked into the Leaky Cauldron, and stopped to look around. Just as it had been when they had been there the previous year, the pub was completely empty except for the owner and bartender Tom, who was sitting behind the bar wiping out a glass. "Maybe we should get something to eat since Gringotts won't open for a few more hours," Hermione said, and Harry and Ron agreed with her.

Finally noticing them when they sat down at a table, Tom rushed over to them and took their orders. Their food was brought out to them in short order, "If you need anything else," Tom told them as he sat a plate of food in front of Ron, "just let me know." They all thanked him and he returned to his station behind the bar.

Hermione grabbed the _Daily Prophet_ Ron had brought along and opened it up. "Anyone that we know listed in it?" Ron asked. This had become an all too common question that he always seemed to ask Hermione when she opened the paper anymore.

Hermione did a quick scan of the paper before saying, "Not that I can tell, but there is an interesting article in here." Hermione passed the paper to Harry;

_**Minister of Magic Initiates Zero Tolerance Policy**_

_Minister of magic Rufus Scrimgeour announced from his office at the Ministry of Magic late last night that he will be instituting a zero tolerance policy to all Death Eaters, or supporters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. "The first step to this plan is to actually find real Death Eaters, therefore all suspects that are being brought in on the suspicion of being a supporter of You-Know-Who will be subjected to intense interrogation carried out by Aurors, that will include the use of both spells and potions, such as Veritaserum."_

_When asked if this included the release of witches and wizards that had been wrongly accuses of being supporters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, he said, "This will actually be the second step in my new policy. We will be looking more closely into their cases and if no connections to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named can be found, those individuals will be released with our deepest apologies to both them and their families."_

_Scrimgeour also put into effect a cleaning of the house as it were, firing several key people in his own office that he suspected of wrong doing. Most notable of these terminations is that of Dolores Umbridge, the Senior Under Secretary to the Minister, and former Defense Against the Dark Arts and self appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When asked about this Scrimgeour said, "There have been some rumors that have been going around that while at Hogwarts, Umbridge performed actions that were not only unethical but also possibly illegal. There is also the matter of a dementor attack that she authorized onto certain individuals without the authorization of the ministry. I will not have somebody in my office that can not control her behavior, no matter what the reason."_

Harry read through the article twice before handing the paper over to Ron. "I don't understand," Ron said after reading it over. Folding the paper up, he looked at the other two "why do you think that he's doing this now?"

"Isn't it obvious Ron?" Hermione asked in an exasperated voice, "He is trying to get on Harry's good side so that he will give his support to the Ministry."

"And it might have worked too," Harry added, "if it was not for the fact that I already know exactly what he is trying to do and why."

Ron appeared to think this over, "Do you think that those Auror that took us to the Dursleys the other night were sent there on his orders?"

"Might have been." Harry said, shrugging his shoulders.

Hermione looked at her watch and stood up, "We had better get going." Anticipating an argument about this from Ron, Hermione quickly added, "Don't forget what Bill told us about it taking a lot longer than usual to get into and then out of Gringotts these days thanks to Voldemort." Harry and Ron gave each other the look that they usually gave each other when they knew that Hermione was right about something. They left some gold on the table for their meal and headed for the entrance to Diagon Alley.

When they entered the alley behind the pub, they found a young lady dressed in Muggle clothes standing there looking at the spot were the archway would usually form. She turned to look at them and smiled. Looking like she could not have been much younger than twenty-five, she had hazel eyes, and brown hair, which was pulled back in a pony tail. "Hi!" she said to them, and Harry immediately knew she was American by the way she talked.

"Hello," Hermione said "what are you doing back here?"

She continued to smile at them, "Just trying to figure out how to get into Diagon Alley."

"You don't know how?" Ron asked.

Shaking her head, she said, "I am visiting family here in London and asked them were I could get a supply of Eel Wax for a potion I am working on. They told me to come here, but neglected to tell me how to get in." She looked at each of them in turn, and then said, "By the way, I'm Samantha Baker, but you can also call me Sam."

Harry nodded to Sam, "This is Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and I am Harry Potter." Sam did not even look for the scar on his forehead, and just greeted each of them.

"Now that we know each other," Sam said, "do you three think that you can help me?"

"No problem." Hermione said as she pulled out her wand and tapped the brick that was third up and second across, and the archway immediately appeared. Together they entered Diagon Alley.

"Thanks for the help," Sam said, "see you around." And before any of them could say a word, she had run off towards the other side of Diagon Alley.

"Hmmm, how interesting," Hermione murmured as she watched Sam run off.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Well," Hermione began as the three of them started walking to Gringotts, "she told us she was visiting from America and needed a supply of Eel Wax for a potion she was working on."

"So," Harry said, "plenty of potions require Eel Wax in them."

"I know that," Hermione said a bit angrily, "but don't you find it a bit strange that she didn't even ask us how to get to the Apothecary so that she could purchase it?"

Harry and Ron just looked at each other, both knowing that Hermione's argument had a point to it. This did not stop Ron from saying, "Maybe she got the directions from her relatives before she came here."

"If that was the case, wouldn't she have also gotten directions from them about how to enter Diagon Alley?" Hermione retorted.

This argument had apparently gotten through to Ron as he was quiet for the rest of the walk to the huge white building that housed Gringotts. As Hermione had guessed, there was a very long line in front of the wizard bank, and reluctantly they joined the end of it. After several minutes, Harry was about to suggest that Ron and Hermione just go to Fred and George's store without him when they heard a familiar voice call out to them, "'Arry, over ere!"

They all looked towards the sound of the voice and saw a very beautiful woman heading their way. Harry looked around and saw that several of the men in the line were now looking at her with mouths open and drool coming out of their mouths as Fleur Delacour moved up to them in line. "'Arry," she said, kissing him on both of his cheeks, "we 'ave been waiting for you."

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione and saw they had baffled looks on their faces as well. "We received an owl telling us you would be coming here today, and we should make you our top priority."

"You did?" Harry asked, still a bit baffled about this. Fleur nodded and motioned for them to follow her.

Leading them to the back of the bank, Fleur stopped in front of what looked like an ordinary stretch of the wall and just stood there looking around. When she had determined that nobody was looking, she placed her hand on the spot and said, "Fleur Delacour, Gold Wiegher!" An archway appeared in the way where her hand had just been and Fleur smiled at them, "Employee Entrance." She then proceeded to lead them through.

Inside of the bank, they were met by a rather stern looking goblin. "Griphook 'Arry Potter has arrived." She said to the goblin.

He nodded, "You're dismissed Miss Delacour!" Fleur gave Harry a smile, and headed off. Griphook then looked at Harry, "I am sorry Mr. Potter, but you are the only one I can take to your vault."

Looking at Ron and Hermione, Harry said, "Why don't you two head for Fred and George's store, and I will meet you there when we are finished here."

"Ok mate." Ron said as he and Hermione headed for the main entrance.

Harry watched them go, then followed Griphook down the long stone path to the roller coaster like tracks that led to the vaults. After a thrilling ride through the maze of twists and turns, the cart finally stopped at what had once been a small door that protected all of his money from thieves. Now it was a much stronger looking door that had what looked like a complicated locking system on it. Griphook held up a key for Harry, "This is the new key to your vault Mr. Potter." Harry took the key and examined it. After a few seconds of this, he pulled out his old key and looked at it, the two keys were virtually the same except that the new one had a blood red ruby embedded on the tip of it.

Harry handed the key back to Griphook, and watched as he stepped up to the new door. "I will need for you to place your hand on the door and state your name."

Harry did as he was told to do and after placing his hand on the door said in a clear voice, "Harry Potter!" At the same time, he noticed that Griphook had placed the key into its slot and had turned it. "I didn't ask for any of this," Harry said as the vault door swung open, "why did you do it?"

Griphook looked up at him, "It was put into place because of the threat of the Dark Lord, and extra security was requested in the owl we got last night notifying us of your arrival." The goblin then rummaged around in his pockets and pulled out a small box, "We were also told to give this to you."

Harry took the box from the Griphook, opened it, and almost as quickly dropped it out of surprise. Inside of the box was a heavy golden locket on a gold chain with an ornate letter S on it. The mark of Salazar Slytherin. Immediately Harry recognized it as the Horcrux he and Dumbledore went after the night he was killed. Looking down at Griphook, Harry asked, "Where did you get this?"

"It came with the letter that told us you would be coming this morning, Mr. Potter," Griphook said. "We were also instructed to give you this." The goblin said as he handed over a rolled up piece of parchment to Harry.

Deciding he would look over it later with Ron and Hermione, Harry put the parchment into his pocket. He thentook the Horcrux out ofits box and stuck it into his other pocket. Then walking over to the far side of the vault, Harry placed the sword on the other side of a large pile of Gallons. He then filled up his money bag with as many coins as he could put in it and walked out of the vault with Griphook right behind him.

Bracing against the bright sunlight as he stepped out of the bank, Harry immediately headed down Diagon Alley in search of Fred and George's joke shop. He had not even made it down the marble staircase when he heard a familiar voice call out his name. When he turned to look in the direction of the voice, he saw Samantha Baker headed in his direction. "Hello Sam," Harry said as he remembered what Hermione had told him and Ron about her suspicions about her, "did you find the Apothecary ok?"

For a second, Harry saw a confused look in her eyes, almost as if she had no idea what he was talking about. "Oh, yeah I found it alright, but they didn't have any Eel Wax in stock." There was a slight pause as if she was trying to figure out what to say next, "So, um, where's your friends, Ralf and Hilary?"

"They went ahead of me to a store further down Diagon Alley, and their names are Ron and Hermione." Harry said.

"Really," Sam said, "what store would that be?"

Harry looked at her for a moment before answering, he had a funny suspicion she was acting like this for whatever reason. Could the Minister of Magic be tailing him in order to try and find out what he was up to? Harry dismissed that idea right away. Though he had only met the Rufus Scrimgeour twice, Harry did not think this was the way he pursued matters. Mentally shrugging, Harry told her, "Weasley Wizard Wheezes!"

"Isn't that that joke shop up the Alley that some people are saying will soon replace Zonko's as the new top joke shop?"

"Could be," Harry said nonchalantly with a shrug.

"Would you like some company walking there?" Sam asked, "I've wanted to go there ever since I first heard about it, and they say that nobody should be going anywhere alone with so many Death Eaters around these days."

Harry thought about this for a moment then nodded. Before long they were standing in front of Weasley Wizard Wheezes, where they found Ron standing there waiting. "I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long Harry. Hermione is inside getting our supplies…." He then saw Sam and trailed off.

"Ron," Harry said, "you remember Sam."

Ron nodded and whispering in Harry's ear, he finished what he was going to say before he saw Sam, "Hermione is inside getting our supplies and she needs your help so we get the right stuff to go after the Horcruxes, but Fred and George don't really believe that we are here with you."

"Understood!" Harry told Ron in a whisper, then in a louder voice so that Sam could hear them, "Well, we had better get inside and find Hermione."

Once they entered the store, Harry and Ron headed for the backroom where the most useful stuff was at, not even noticing that Sam had separated herself from them. In the backroom, they found Hermione talking to one of the twins, "And I am telling you Fred that Harry is here with us and he will be here soon."

"I know that is what you said Hermione," Fred retorted, "but George and I do have a business to run and if Harry is not here then…"

"Then what?" Harry asked Fred.

Both Fred and Hermione turned to look at Harry and Ron, "Sorry about that Harry," Fred said, "but I just had to be sure you were actually with these two," he indicated Ron and Hermione, "before I approved anything."

Harry and Ron walked up to Fred, "Well Ron and Hermione are helping me with a project that is of the up most importance, and so I am asking you to let them take whatever they need until we have finished with it."

Fred nodded, "Ok Harry I will pass on that information to George and the rest of the staff, but they can only take things from this room, and either George or I have to be here when they do that, agreed?" Fred then offered his hand for Harry to shake.

"Agreed!" Harry said taking Fred's hand.

Fred then opened his arms out wide, "Then in that case help yourselves to anything that you need." He then looked at Harry, "Can I have a word with you?"

Harry nodded as Ron helped Hermione to gather up some of the things that they had already decided that they were going to need. Fred then led Harry to a corner, "George and I were hoping to have a talk with you about our little sister."

Harry rolled his eyes, "If you are going to tell me it is not right for me to place Ginny's life in danger by going out with her, or you are going to tell me you will put a hex or a curse on me if I do anything to break her heart, or anything else like that you might as well save your breath because I already ended it with her so she would not get hurt by Voldemort or his followers."

"Actually," Fred said looking a little shaken by what he had just heard, "I was going to tell you that George and I both approve of you being with Ginny, as do Mum and Dad." A smile broke out across Fred's face, "I also wanted to let you know that Ginny told us about what you were trying to do when you called it off, and how you reached an agreement on the train." Harry was about to say something, but Fred held up his hand, "Ginny told us all about it, because we were worried about her, and I must say Harry that what you tried to do is even more reason that we all think Ginny is better off being with you."

Harry could not think of anything to say to this, except for "Thanks!"

Fred just grinned at him, "Of course if anything happens to our dear sweet sister, we will have to jinx and/or curse you. Whichever we think is the best solution." He then gave Harry a wink.

An hour later the three of them were walking through the Leakey Cauldron heading back out to the streets of London to catch a ride on the Night Bus back to Privet Drive, and from there they would decide if they would proceed onto Godric's Hollow or just stay in. Among their supplies, there was a large supply of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, the same stuff that Malfoy used to sneak Death Eaters out of the Room of Requirement the night that Dumbledore had died. There also was some special goggles that Fred and George had developed to go with the powder, several of their shield products, as well as some Decoy Detonators.

They made a stop at Flourish and Blotts where Hermione picked up some books she said would come in handy. Their last stop was at the Apothecary where they picked up a wide variety of potion ingredients that Hermione said would more than likely come in handy.

"So where to next?" Ron asked as he watched Hermione put out her hand to signal the Night Bus.

"I think we should either head back to the Dursleys in order to leave this stuff," Hermione said, "or head for Grimmauld Place, and leave it there." She looked over at Harry, "What do you think Harry?"

Harry thought about this for a moment, but before he could say anything, there was a loud CRACK, and the Night Bus appeared in front of them. "Grimmauld Place," he said as the witch April stepped off the bus and began her prepared speech, "I don't think we will be going after any," Harry glanced at April, who was now looking at them, "objects before I leave the Dursleys for good." And without another word they all boarded the Night Bus.

Sam watched them board the bus from high atop of the Leakey Cauldron. She then pulled out a cell phone. There was a momentary pause before she said into it, "Yeah, it's me. I made contact with Potter and his friends. Potter spent about forty-five minutes to an hour in Gringotts, and then he and his friends went to Weasley Wizard Wheezes and left with a large amount of stuff. Then, they went to the Apothecary and Flourish and Blotts, and picked up potion supplies and several books. I will keep my eye on them as best I can…..Understood!" She then closed the phone and placed it back in her pocket.

"What are you and your friends trying to do Harry Potter?" she asked herself. Sam then walked over to a motorcycle and started it up. She drove off the side of the building and down it to the streets below.


	4. Godric's Hollow

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 4: Godric's Hollow**

The Night Bus came into existence at the end of the street that made up Grimmauld Place. When the doors to the triple-decker opened up, Harry, Ron, and Hermione disembarked, giving their thanks to Ernie and April for the lift. With a loud BANG, that Harry thought would attract the attention of all the muggles that were still at home today, the bus disappeared.

With a look at the others, Harry led the way up the street until they reached number eleven, number thirteen right next to it. As they began walking up the small path that lead between the two houses number twelve sprang into life in front of them looking as though it was pushing the other two houses out of the way in order to make room. Not even bothering to announce that he was coming in, especially since this was now his house, Harry tapped the door with his wand. They immediately heard the sound of many locks opening and the sound of a chain clattering. The door opened and he walked into the house followed by Ron and Hermione.

As soon as they entered the house, the three of them noticed something was different. First, the umbrella stand, which resembled a troll's leg, was now gone, replaced by a real muggle looking umbrella stand. The serpent shaped chandelier and candelabras were now gone, replaced by a crystalline like chandelier and several golden candelabras. When they approached the staircase the plaques with the house elf heads was gone, nothing replacing them. Then they saw the picture of Mrs. Black was missing as well. In its place, there was the picture of Phineas Nigellus, a former Headmaster of Hogwarts and Sirius's great-great-grandfather, or at least the frame of the picture was hanging there. Phineas was no doubt in his picture at Hogwarts.

There was a noise from the sitting room and Remus Lupin walked out into the hallway, followed by Nymphadora Tonks and Alastor Moody. "Harry!" Lupin said as he saw them standing there. "What are you all doing here?"

"We came by to drop off a few things Professor." Hermione said before Harry had a chance.

Lupin smiled at them, "You don't need to call me that, just call me Remus since you are almost of age right now."

"Thanks," Harry said, "but we just stopped by to drop off some stuff that we picked up in Diagon Alley."

"You should have told us you were going there Potter," Moody said. "We would have made arrangements to…."

"It's ok," Harry interrupted, "we didn't see any Death Eaters while we were there. Besides we need to start looking out for ourselves." He added a bit hotly, "in case you didn't notice, the three of us have been through a lot in the last six years."

"Nobody is debating that Harry," Lupin stated as he held his hand up to try and clam Harry down.

"We are just concerned that you might be attacked, and not be able to get out of it this time," Tonks added quickly.

Harry made to turn away, but Lupin laid a hand his shoulder, "Look Harry, maybe we are being a little over protective of you, but it is only because we don't want to lose another good person to Voldemort or his Death Eaters." Lupin gave Harry's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "We know Dumbledore trusted you with some very important information about Voldemort and you feel it is your job to make sure whatever he started, you finish." Harry turned to look at Lupin, "Minerva told us."

"The point Remus is trying to make Potter," Moody added, "is that we all want to see the end of Voldemort just as much as you do. We are willing to help out in any way we can to make sure that the hopes of so many wizards that have fallen at the hands of Voldemort and his followers come true."

Harry thought this over for a moment. "If you want to help us, we could use some extra training with defensive spells. In order to prepare ourselves for any battles we might just get into down the road."

Lupin nodded, "I would be happy to help out in any way I can."

"As will the rest of us." Tonks added.

"But right now," Ron added, "we are a bit rushed, since we are headed for Godric's Hollow after we get rid of this stuff."

"Well then you're in luck," Moody said. "I have an old friend that happens to live in that area. You might be able to use his fire to travel there…that is unless you can apperate now."

Both Harry and Ron shook their head, "I'm the only one that can apperate at this time," Hermione explained.

Moody nodded, "Then stash that stuff in one of the rooms, and I will contact my friend to let him know you are coming."

"And I will contact Arabella Figg and see if you can use her fire to return to Privet Drive later." Lupin added.

"Thanks!" Harry said and then led the way up to the room he and Ron had shared two years earlier. Once the door was shut, Harry pulled out the locket and parchment, and showed them to Ron and Hermione. He then told them how he had been given them at Gringotts.

"So what does the letter say Harry?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged, "Don't know…I was waiting till we were alone to open it."

"Let me open it." Hermione said. She pulled out her wand as Harry held it out to her and she tapped it. The seal on it instantly came undone, and Harry pulled it back to read:

_Dear Mr. Potter_

_As you may have guessed I have figured out what you and Albus Dumbledore were doing when you left the school the night he was killed. Therefore I have decided to send you this Horcrux with the hopes that you will continue the work that the three of us began. Just so you know, the Horcrux in this locket is gone forever. This was made possible with the help of a potion I created is able to dispel any new magic that has been added to an object. This means that though the Horcrux has been removed from this object, all of the powers that were originally part of this item are still in tact. The instructions and list of ingredients for the potion are on the back of this letter. It was my hope to return these items either to their rightful owners or to give them to Hogwarts. Please carry on my work for me Mr. Potter._

_Sincerely_

_R.A.B._

"Brilliant!" Ron said when Harry was finished reading the letter.

Harry in turn handed the letter to Hermione who immediately turned it over to look at the potion. "How soon can you have it ready to go?" he asked her.

Hermione took a few minutes to read over the instructions and the ingredients. "It won't take all that long to get everything ready, but we have to let it stew for about two months, and after that, theitem has to sit in it for an hour in order to destroythe Horcruxcompletely."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Ron stated, "not to much different from the time we made the Polyjuice Potion in our second year. That stuff took forever to make up."

Hermione on the other hand shook her head, "I'm afraid that there is a difference to that time Ron, at least with Polyjuice Potion a person can get multiple transformations with just one standard size cauldron. With this potion, we need to make up another cauldron if there is another item that needs it."

"So in other words," Harry began, "since we now have to find two more Horcruxes we need two cauldrons full of this stuff."

Hermione nodded, "Let me think about this for a while and see if I can come up with any ideas as to how and where we could possibly do this." She then looked at her watch, "We had better get going if we are going to Godric's Hollow."

"Just let me hide this first," Harry said indicating the locket. He went over to one of the beds, lifting up the mattress and placing the locket under it.

When they reached the kitchen, they found Moody, Lupin, and Tonks sitting there around the table. "Everything with my friend has been set up Potter." Moody said when he saw them, "Just call out Number 14 Hollow Road when you enter the fire, and it will take you right to his house."

"And I talked to Arabella," Lupin added. "She will be expecting you later tonight."

"Thanks," Harry said, "for everything."

"You just let us know if you need us for anything," Tonks added.

"We will," Hermione said.

As they walked up to the fire, Hermione pulled out the container with the Floo Powder in it. They each took a pinch of it, "Ok Hermione your first." Harry told them.

Hermione threw the powder into the fire and shouted "Number 14 Hollow Road!" as she entered it. Green flames erupted around her as she disappeared into the fire.

When the flames died down, Harry nodded to Ron to go next, "Number 14 Hollow Road!" he shouted. Just like with Hermione green flames shot up and engulfed him completely.

Harry gave Moody, Tonks, and Lupin and nod, then he through his powder onto the flames and just like Ron and Hermione before him shouted "Number 14 Hollow Road!" Suddenly he was spinning very fast though nothingness with other wizard rooms moving past him at incredible speeds. He finally felt himself slowing down and before he knew it, he was standing in a sitting room. Ron and Hermione were standing off to one side of the fireplace, brushing ash and soot off of their clothes. Stepping out of the fireplace, Harry saw standing to his right an elderly man of oriental decent. He was dressed in muggle clothing and had his hands folded in front of him.

"Welcome to my home Mr. Potter, my name is Victor Wu." The elderly man said, "And I have prepared a small meal if you would be interested before you head out."

"Thanks," Harry said almost refusing the offer, but his stomach chose that moment to remind him they had not eaten since early that morning. "We would appreciate that."

It did not take long for Victor to set up the table and before long they were sitting down to a meal of chicken and rice. "So what brings you three to Godric's Hollow?" Victor asked once everyone had taken some food and begun eating.

"We're here to visit my parents," Harry said.

Victor nodded, "Then you will need to go to Hollow Hills Cemetery, it's on the east side of town."

"How far?" Ron asked through a full mouth of food.

Victor took a moment before answering the question, more than likely trying to figure out exactly what Ron had asked, "Not very far," he finally answered. He then looked around, "I didn't live here the night that Lord Voldemort attacked your parents Harry, but I have heard some interesting tales from people who had lived in the area."

"What kind of tales?" Harry asked.

"Well," Victor began, "from what I have heard, the police classified the incident as an exploding gas main. Your parent's bodies were so mangled from the explosion that had destroyed the house, they attributed their deaths to it."

"What did the Aurors have to say about it?" Hermione asked.

Victor shrugged, "Can't say for sure, but there was a lady, who had lived right next to them, Mrs. Martha Wingate, who apparently told the police she saw somebody enter the house. Then, she saw two brilliant flashes of green light, the first one downstairs, the second upstairs. She thought she had seen a third flash just before the house blew up. However, the police only found the bodies of your parents Harry."

"That sounds about right," Harry said. "I remember what he had overheard from McGonagall, Flitwick, and Hagrid, who was telling Fudge about that night in our third year. Hagrid said he had just pulled me out of the wreckage when Sirius gave him that flying motorcycle of his to take me to Dumbledore."

"Yeah," Ron added, this time thankfully with an empty mouth, "I remember that. Hagrid said he got out of there just before the muggle police showed up."

"Now that I think about it," Victor added, "Martha did mention something to the police about a larger than life man that was going though the rubble not all that long after the explosion. She also told them about how he was holding something in his arms and how he apparently got into a bit of a shouting match with a normal sized man that came rolling up to the house on a motorcycle."

This information caught not just Harry's interest, but also Hermione's as well, "Do you know were we can find Mrs. Wingate?" she asked.

"I think she lives in a retirement home not all that far away from the cemetery," Victor told them.

After they had finished with their meal and thanked Victor for his hospitality, Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed off to the other side of the town where both the cemetery, and the retirement home where Martha Wingate was now living, were located. As Victor had told them, they did not have to walk very far to get there. "You two wait here," Harry said as they walked past the home, "I need to talk to Mrs. Wingate about the night my parents died."

"No way mate," Ron said.

"We're coming too Harry," Hermione added.

Harry thought it over and nodded to them. It didn't take them long to find the entrance to the home. When they walked inside, they found a receptionist sitting behind a window. She looked up when they approached. "Can I help you kids?" she asked.

"Yes you can," Harry said, "we are looking for Mrs. Martha Wingate."

"Are you family?" She asked as she gave them a firm look.

"No."

"Then I am afraid that I can't let you see Mrs. Wingate. I am under order that only family and her doctors are aloud to see her."

Harry gave Hermione a look and she immediately stepped forward drawing out her wand as she did so. "But we do have authorization to see her," Hermione said as she grabbed a pamphlet off the counter and pointed her wand at the nurse, "here it is." The nurse's eyes became glazed over as she reached for the pamphlet.

She looked at it for a moment then said "Ok, everything looks to be in order. Mrs. Wingate is in room 213. Just turn left at the door, and take the elevator to the second floor. Her room is the sixth door on the right."

After thanking the nurse for her help, they headed in the direction they had been told to go. When they got to the second floor, they walked down the hall until they reached the sixth door,. There they found a white haired elderly lady sitting in front of a television. "Mrs. Wingate?" Harry asked, somewhat startling the lady.

"Who wants to know?" She asked, then took a good hard look at Harry and both hands went to her face. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed, "James Potter?"

Harry looked at both Ron and Hermione, "No, my name is Harry, Harry Potter."

Mrs. Wingate took another closer look at Harry, "I should have known you weren't James, but you do show a striking resemblance to him, except for the eyes. Your eyes are…"

"Lilly's." Harry finished. He had told this a hundred times since he had rejoined the Magical World. "I'm their son Harry." He said.

"I know that my boy," Mrs. Wingate said, then beckoned them inside. "Please have a seat…all of you."

Sitting down on the small bed that Mrs. Wingate slept on, Harry introduced Ron and Hermione, then decided to just get to the point of the visit. "Mrs. Wingate, I understand it from some sources that you saw some of what happened the night my parents died." Mrs. Wingate nodded, and Harry continued, "I need to know what happened to them."

Mrs. Wingate looked at all of them one at a time and Harry felt a slight chill go up his spine, which he quickly attributed to being in a place with so many old people. "It was almost sixteen years ago when it happened," she began and Harry once again felt that chill go up his spine, only this time it was a bit more intense than the first time, "and not one person believed me when I told the tale any time during those years."

"We will believe you," Hermione told her in a kind gentle voice.

Mrs. Wingate smiled at them, "Ok," she said as she turned off the television, "as I told you before it was almost sixteen years ago when it happened, but I can still remember the events of that night as if it were yesterday. It so happened I was visiting your parents that night, and it was on the way home that I noticed a dark figure lurking around their house. All I could make out on the figure was that it wore some sort of cloak around it. Anyway, I decided to call over to your parent's house first chance I could get.

"As I was about to pick up the telephone, I saw what looked like several flashes in the sitting room window. At first, I thought it was gun fire, that is until I saw a flash of green light and the flashes stopped. It was of course at that time I decided to call the police." As she told this story, Harry pictured in his mind the flashes of light where his father's spells and curses being shot at Voldemort in a vain attempt to buy his mother the time she needed to get to him and get to safety. His attempts ended when Voldemort used the _Avada Kedaver_a curse to finish their duel.

"When the operator at the police station put me on hold," Mrs. Wingate continued, "I glanced back at the house and saw another flash of green light in the window I knew was your room Harry."

Once again Harry envisioned, with the help of the memories that the dementors had brought out in his third year, his mother pleading with Voldemort to let him live and to take her instead, just before he killed her too. "All seemed still for a moment, then I could have sworn I saw a third flash of green light, just before the house blew up." Now Harry saw Voldemort right in front of him with his wand out and ready to kill him. Harry saw the flash of green light that was the trademark of the _Avada Kedavera,_ and then saw it bounce back onto its caster. Harry then shivered as yet another, even more powerful chill ran down his spine, and this time seemed to stay there.

"After that, all seemed still until a huge man appeared out of nowhere and began to sift through the rubble. It was only after he seemed to find what he was looking for when a man on a motorcycle drove up to the ruins of the house. The two of them seemed to argue for a few minutes until they heard the sirens of the police cars and reached a compromise. The larger man ended up taking the motorcycle and disappeared out of sight, while the other man vanished into thin air."

As she told them this, Harry saw Hagrid apperate to the ruins of the house and begin to search for him. After Hagrid finally found him, Sirius showed up to find the mess, after learning that Peter Pettigrew had betrayed them to Voldemort. Harry watched as Hagrid and Sirius argued over who was going to take him, when at last, thanks to the police, their argument was settled. Sirius gave Hagrid his motorcycle so he could get to the Dursleys, while he went to hunt down Peter and kill him for his betrayal, only to end up in Azkaban for his troubles. Harry then noticed that both Ron and Hermione were both shaking as well.

"It was only when they finished shifting through the rubble and only found the bodies of your parents that I knew the large man had taken you Harry." Mrs. Wingate wiped a tear from her eye. Harry was about to say something when he noticed that the windows in the room were beginning to fog over, and then it hit him with the weight of an elephant…there were dementors in the building.

Ron and Hermione seemed to have figured this out as well because they had both pulled out their wands. "What's going on?" Mrs. Wingate asked, a little alarmed at this sudden movement, she then screamed.

Suddenly Harry heard in his head Dumbledore's voice saying "Severus…please…" Then he heard Snape's voice shouting, "_Avada Kedavera_!"

Harry did what he could to focus on the task at hand, "Hermione get to the ministry and let them know there are dementors here. Ron and I will try to hold them off as best we can till reinforcements arrive." Hermione nodded and with a loud crack disapparated from the spot. Harry then turned to Ron, "I know you weren't able to perfect your Patronus yet Ron, but do you think you can do it now?"

"Have to, don't I." Ron said.

"Just remember that all you need is to focus on an extremely happy memory and you can do it." Harry told him as he lead the way out into the hall. Then he saw them, two large dementors gliding down the hall right to them. Harry tried with all his might to banish the thoughts of Dumbledore's last few words, and focused on the last few weeks that he spent with Ginny, raised his wand and shouted, "_Expecto Patronum_!" Instantly the giant silver stag that was his Patronus erupted out of his wand and charged at the two dementors.

Harry heard Ron shout next to him, "_Expecto Patronum_!" but nothing happened except some silver mist came out of the end of his wand.

"Ron you have to believe that you can do it and you will." Harry shouted at him as his Patronus rammed headfirst into one of the dementors. It was at that time he noticed that there were more than two of them.

Ron screwed up his face, closed his eyes and shouted once again, "_Expecto Patronum_!" This time something happened as a giant eight legged spider erupted out of Ron's wand and charged after the dementors. "I did it!" Ron shouted in jubilation, "I did it!" He then noticed what his Patronus was shaped like and it seemed like he was about to faint.

"Ron," Harry shouted, "you need to stay awake and keep your focus, otherwise it will vanish." This seemed to bring Ron out of it, but he still looked more scared of his own Patronus than of the dementors. The dementors didn't think this new Patronus was anything special either as they began to retreat back the way that they came. "We have to go after them." Harry shouted, and half pulling Ron behind him they directed their two Patronus to follow the dementors.

As they followed the dementors down the hall, the feelings of never being happy again began to flood over them. Though his mind was clouded worse than ever by the sounds of Dumbledore's last few words Harry still had a clear enough mind to figure out what was going on. When he stopped dead in his tracks, Ron nearly knocked him over. "What the hell are you doing Harry." He asked, but the answer to his question came when he looked in front of them were the four dementors they were chasing had been joined by over a dozen more. Even now the stag and spider were beginning to lose their brightness, just as Harry and Ron were fighting to stay awake themselves.

"No!" Harry shouted, "I won't give up without a fight, I WON'T"

Suddenly there were several loud cracks as a large number of wizards and witches appeared around them and almost as one they shouted "_Expecto Patronum_!" A large number of animal shaped Patronus appeared and joined Harry and Ron's stag and spider, which were now growing in strength thanks to all of the other Patronus, and charged at the dementors. Within ten minutes, it was all over and all of the dementors were flying off out of town.

Harry and Ron watched as all of the Patronus disappeared in silver hazes, and saw Hermione apperate in front of them, as all of the ministry officials headed off to begin the modification of the witnesses memories. "Let's go before somebody from the _Prophet_ shows up." Harry said.

When they finally reached the grounds, they headed for the cemetery. It didn't take them long to find the grave markers for James and Lilly Potter. Ron and Hermione stood out of the way so that Harry could be alone with his parents. "Well Mum and Dad I finally returned to were it all began for me. I guess Sirius and Dumbledore are there with you right now, and more than likely you know the mission me and my friends are about to undertake. Though I would gladly trade all of the magic in the world to have you back in my life again. I can't help but to think the loss of each of you has made me stronger than if I had had you with me from the start."

As he thought about all of the people that Voldemort had killed a single tear flowed from Harry's eye, "My friends and I will stop Voldemort once and for all, and I will avenge not just your deaths, but the deaths of all of those that have had the misfortune of crossing paths at the wrong time with Voldemort. This I swear." Harry then drew out his wand and gave it a flick. Two bouquets of flowers appeared in front of the marker. He then knelt down and arranged them so that each bouquet was in front of a name, stood up, turned around and rejoined Hermione and Ron.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in front of the fire in Victor Wu's sitting room. "Thanks for everything Mr. Wu." Harry said shaking Victor's hand.

"Don't mention it Harry," Victor said, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder "Besides, it's because of you the ministry was able to stop the dementor attack of the retirement home."

Harry smiled at this, then indicated to Hermione for her to once again go first. She stepped up to the fire and threw the pinch of Floo Powder she had taken. Stepping into the flames, which had now turned green, "Number Eight Magnolia Crescent!" she shouted as the flames engulfed her.

Ron was next, stepping up to the fire, he threw the powder on the flames and shouted "Number Eight Magnolia Crescent!" as well as the green flames swallowed him up as well.

"Thanks again," Harry said as he threw his small amount of powder on the flames and shouted, "Number Eight Magnolia Crescent!".

When the flames had died away, one of the book shelves that lined one of the walls in the room swung open and John Warrens stepped into the sitting room. "Quite an eventful day Victor." He said as he sat down on one of the sofas.

"Can't argue with you on that one John." Victor said as he walked over to the window and saw a motorcycle pull up to the house, "Sam's here." He said.

Less than a moment later Samantha Baker walked into the room, "I heard what happened, was anyone…?"

"No," Victor said anticipating her question. "Luckily Potter and his friends were there to stop the dementors before they could do any harm."

"Did you find out anything Victor?" John asked.

Victor shook his head, "They were the ones asking all of the questions, it would have been suspicious if I had started asking any."

"Then we all struck out." Sam said.

"Not really," Victor said, "I placed a tracker on Potters glasses just before they left. Now we can track them wherever they go." He then looked at the other two one at a time, "What did you think of Weasley and Granger?"

"I really didn't get a good feel for them last night at dinner," John said, "With Minerva McGonagall there, it was hard for me to get any type of feeling other than the fact they would follow Potter to the ends of the Earth."

"I also got that impression when I met them this morning at Diagon Alley," Sam added, "though I did get the impression that Hermione Granger is the more intellectual one of the group because she was able to see some of the holes I put into my cover story simply for that purpose. Potter and Weasley didn't pick up on them until Granger pointed them out. Weasley on the other hand could be one of the most loyal friends that Potter has on his side. He is brave, cunning, and very capable of anything he sets his mind too."

"What about Potter?" Victor asked

"A natural born leader," Sam said, "once again capable of anything he puts his mind to, very brave and courageous…not to mention curious about things he should not be. All in all, the three of them make up one hell of a team."

"Much the same way that we do." Victor added with a smile.

"I do have to add," John said, "Harry Potter is not one of the people I would have suspected was a descendant of Godric Gryffindor."

"Nor did anyone suspect that a boy named Tom Riddle was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, but he quickly proved them wrong when he became Lord Voldemort." Victor told them, "The point is that Potter is Gryffindor's descendant, and therefore we know what we have to do."

Both John and Sam nodded their understanding, "Now get back out there, and remember Potter and his friends might be able to do what not even Albus Dumbledore was able to do…bring down Voldemort."


	5. Life Goes On

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 5: Life Goes On**

By the time Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to Privet Drive, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had already returned with Dudley. They were told they had just missed dinner. Harry didn't believe this even before they heard Dudley complain he hadn't eaten since they left Smeltings earlier that day. However, since Mrs. Figg had offered them some leftover pizza from the night before, he didn't care very much.

Most of the next few days were spent reading, visiting Mrs. Figg, who always welcomed their company, wondering around Privet Drive, or watching Dudley squirm whenever they entered a room. Harry and Ron particularly like the latter activity. At the end of the week, Harry felt he had lived up to his promise to Dumbledore about returning to Privet Drive. He decided it was time to head off to Grimmauld Place to figure out what their next step would be.

That Saturday morning, Harry, Ron, and Hermione packed up their trunks. Hedwig and Pigwidgeon were sent to Grimmauld Place, and Crookshanks was secured safely in his basket. They carried their trunks down to the sitting room where Hermione, after removing the boards from in front of it, started a fire in the fireplace and pulled out the container of Floo Powder.

Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley all watched in horror as Hermione held the container out for Harry and Ron to take a pinch each, then took one for herself. Harry turned to the Dursleys and gave them a hard stare, "What!" Uncle Vernon demanded.

Taking a deep breath Harry spoke, "Since I was only one year old, this is the only home that I knew until I was old enough to go to Hogwarts. I wanted to say thank you for taking me in and raising me for all these years." Harry gave them a weak smile, then immediately took on an expression of loathing, "Now that that has been said, I have to tell you that you have made living here a living hell for me, and I hope I never have to see any of you ever again. Despite all of the signs to the contrary, you could not accept me for what I was, a wizard, just like you could never accept my parents for what they were." Harry looked pointedly at Aunt Petunia, "Despite what you may or may not think about my parents, I have learned they were brave and noble people.

"They sacrificed everything, including their own lives, so I would survive, so you would live as well, and how did you repay them? By treating me like I was more of a bother than anything else." Tears were now coming out of Harry's eyes as he spoke. Uncle Vernon made to say something but Ron pulled out his wand at that moment and pointed it right at him. "Instead of treating me like your own as Dumbledore had intended for you to do, you let this spoiled fat lump," he indicated Dudley, who was eyeing Ron's wand with a great deal of concern, "get away with bullying me for years. Always covering up his deeds with crap like 'Boys will be boys', and 'He's just going through one of those phases'. Even when I saved his worthless hide from those dementors two years ago, you still could not except the fact that it was thanks to me he was saved, though you quickly came to the conclusion it was my fault everything was happening."

"You had better bloody well believe it was your…" Uncle Vernon began jumping up out off the sofa as he did so, but this time Hermione pulled out her wand as well, and he immediately sat back down.

"Maybe it was," Harry told them, "but he could have had a worst fate than being dieing had I not been there." He then turned away from the Dursleys and walked over to the fireplace, "I hope Dudley will at least understand now that there are far more dangerous things out there than freaks and weirdoes, and that he will use that knowledge to better himself before it is to late for him." Harry looked back at his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin over his shoulder, "After all we are as much a part of this world as you are, and you never know when you will bump into one of us." Harry then threw the Floo Powder onto the fire. He then walked into the green flames and called out "Number twelve Grimmauld Place!"

Harry didn't even notice the journey to Grimmauld Place after stepping into the fire. He didn't even realize it when he had arrived in the kitchen fireplace. Feeling both joy and relief, he would never again have to return to Privet Drive for any reason, not to mention he had finally told the Dursleys exactly what he thought about them and the way they treated him ever since he had been found on their door step.

When he finally looked around, he realized where he was and quickly moved out of the fireplace so he was not in Ron or Hermione's way when they came though. Sure enough, no sooner had he gotten out of the way than the fireplace burst into green flame and Hermione stepped out of it carrying Crookshanks basket. Crookshanks was hissing and spitting inside of it, and Hermione was dragging her trunk…a few moments after that Ron came through with his trunk and Pidwegon's cage. "What did they have to say when I left?" Harry asked as they dusted themselves off and Hermione let Crookshanks out of his basket.

"Your Uncle was not to happy when I came through," Ron said, "but that might have been because Hermione and I wanted to repay them for their hospitality toward us over the last week."

"What did you do?" Harry asked unable to keep his curiosity at bay.

"Oh," Hermione picked up, "I just transfigured all of their furniture into a wide variety of different colors and styles."

"And that's not all," Ron said, "I used an everlasting stick charm to glue a picture of you up in their hallway."

Harry looked at Ron in disbelief, "You did what?" he asked barely able to contain his laughter.

"I put a picture of you up in their hallway just before I brought my trunk down to the sitting room." Ron said, "That way they could never forget you for as long as they own the house."

Harry could not hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, which prompted Ron and Hermione to join in. They were still laughing hard when they stepped into the hallway and several people shouted out "SURPRISE!"

This was enough to startle all three of them back to the moment. Harry was about to pull out his wand when a streak of red slammed into him wrapping her arms around him hard. When Harry looked down, he saw it was Ginny. Looking around, he saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were both there, along with Lupin. "What's going on?" Harry asked a bit more shocked than anything else.

"Well Harry," Mr. Weasley began, "Remus here let us know you were going to be leaving Privet Drive today to come live here so…"

"So we decided to come here and surprise you," Ginny finished finally letting him go from her hug but wrapping her arm around his.

"Not only that Harry Dear," Mrs. Weasley began, "but we also were hoping you wouldn't mind if we stayed here for a while."

"Why?" Harry asked out of both concern and suspicion as Ginny steered him into the sitting room were there was a meal all ready to go.

"Somebody broke into the Burrow two days ago." Ginny said

"What!" Ron said out of shock, "Did anyone get hurt?"

Mr. Weasley shook his head, "Thankfully your mother and Ginny were both out at the time."

"Was anything missing?" Hermione asked.

"No," Mrs. Weasley said as she indicated for everyone to sit down at the table, "but the place was a real mess. Pots and pans everywhere, furniture torn up, not to mention the Grandfather clock was destroyed."

Harry immediately knew what clock she was referring too. This clock didn't tell the time like any other clock would have, it had nine golden hands on it, each one was engraved with the name of a member of the family, and in place of numbers it had slots like 'Home', 'Work', 'School', as well as others that told the state of the members of the family. The last time that Harry had seen it all of the hands were pointing at the 'Mortal Peril' slot.

"So where were you and Ginny when this happened?" Ron asked.

"At St. Mungo's visiting Bill." Ginny said, "He and Fleur went there after the funeral to see if they could do anything about his injuries."

Harry remembered all to well the injuries Bill had sustained during the battle with the Death Eaters at Hogwarts. While trying to defend the castle from the invaders, Bill had been savagely attacked by Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf that had developed a taste for flesh and blood that could not be satisfied once a month anymore, not to mention Voldemort's biggest supporter in the Werewolf community. But since it had not been a full moon that night, and Greyback had not been transformed, Bill did not have to worry about becoming a Werewolf himself. Greyback was thankfully now in the custody of the Ministry of Magic, thanks in large part to Harry, and would hopefully not do any harm for a very long time.

"Why is he at St. Mungo's?" Hermione asked.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave each other a look, "Bill and Fleur decided to move the wedding up to next Saturday." Mr. Weasley explained. Heading off a flow of questions Mr. Weasley continued, "They were invited to stay with a friend of Fleur's family for their honeymoon. When he heard Bill had been attacked by a Werewolf, he apparently realized their original wedding date was around the full moon."

"And even though he knew Bill was not attacked at the full moon, he still didn't want to take any chances." Harry finished.

"Unfortunately that sort of thing will become all to common for Bill now." Lupin said, "Even though he is not a full Werewolf, he will still have to live with this condition for the rest of his life."

"So where will the wedding be?" Hermione asked

"Hogwarts," Ginny told them, "Professor McGonagall will be performing the ceremony, with Madam Maxime assisting her."

Anticipating Harry's question Mr. Weasley told them, "It was decided several years ago that a Headmaster or Headmistress should be able to marry any of their former students if they wished to. Professor Dumbledore had originally agreed to do the ceremony, but when he was killed that honor fell to Minerva McGonagall."

"It was Dumbledore that performed the ceremony for your parents Harry." Lupin added.

They continued to talk about wizard weddings for a while longer, but eventually broke off into other conversations. When they had finished off the food, Hermione and Ginny helped Mrs. Weasley to clear the table while Lupin, who had heard about Ron's Patronus from Tonks, began to ask him about it. That left Mr. Weasley and Harry to discuss things. "So Harry," Mr. Weasley said, "Ginny told us about what you tried to do."

"I know, Fred told me when we were at the joke shop the other day." Harry told him.

Mr. Weasley gave Harry a warm smile, "Molly and I appreciate what you tried to do, and if you two want to continue in secret like you intended on, you have our full support and blessing."

"Thanks," Harry said, "I was really hoping you would approve of us going out together."

Mr. Weasley gave Harry another smile, "I am kind of surprised to hear you say that Harry. Molly thinks the world of you. I think if she could have we would have adopted you into the family the first time you met her." Harry smiled at this. "Just promise us whenever we decide to return to the Burrow that you will take care of Ginny to the best of your ability to do so."

Harry nodded, "You have my word on that."

The following week at Grimmauld Place went by all to fast. Lupin and Mad Eye had begun training Harry, Ron, and Hermione in all sorts of advanced jinxes, hexes, and curses that would give them the upper hand in any type of duel, not to mention Harry and Ron had finally begun to learn properly how to cast their spells without saying the incantation.

Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were always popping in and out of Grimmauld Place. After all, since the wedding had been moved up a few weeks and since Ginny was a member of the wedding party, Mrs. Weasley had far too much to do and far too little time to do it in.

Hermione had been working hard trying to figure out not just where the next Horcrux was located, not to mention what enchantments and other protective spells were guarding it. Also, there was figuring out the issue of where they could cook up two cauldrons of what she had begun to call the Reversal Potion.

Fortunately, they had let Ginny in on at least some of what they were going to do, and she had come up with a solution to this problem. "The way I figure it," she had told them one day, "you need somebody to help make this potion that knows what they are doing, plus you need to brew it somewhere Voldemort can't find it. So what about asking Professor Slughorn for help?" Ginny had paused for a moment to let the idea sink in before she continued. "Think about it, Slughorn is at Hogwarts right now. I overheard McGonagall telling dad about it last week, and he just so happens to like three out of the four people in this room."

Harry had looked at both Ron and Hermione, and after they had decided to throw in a box of crystallized pineapple, Slughorn's favorite sweet, they had decided Harry and Hermione would approach him before the wedding.

Finally Saturday morning came, by the time Harry and Ron had gotten out of bed, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had already eaten and headed off to Hogwarts to get ready. Around ten o'clock, they had their dress robes on and were headed down to the kitchen where they would tandem apperate with Lupin and Tonks. Hermione had already gone to Hogsmeade to pick up the crystallized pineapple for Slughorn.

When they got to the kitchen, Lupin and Tonks were sitting at the table talking about something in a low voice. They quickly split apart when thy saw Harry and Ron. "Where's Hermione?" Tonks asked.

"She had to pick something up in Hogsmeade and said she would meet up with us at the gates to Hogwarts." Harry told them.

Lupin seemed to accept this explanation and motioned for Harry and Ron to stand next himself and Tonks. "Now remember we are only going to assist the two of you to apperate to Hogwarts." He explained. "Harry you will come with me and Ron will go with Tonks." When Harry and Ron took up their positions next to Lupin and Tonks, Lupin explained, "Now you will take hold of our arms, not to tightly now, and on the count of three you will apperate with your partner. Tonks, why don't you and Ron go first and Harry and I will be right behind you."

Tonks nodded her head in agreement with this suggestion, "Ok Ron, you ready to go?" she asked, and Ron gave a slight nod as he closed his eyes in concentration. "Ok then, 1…2…3." With a crack both Rona and Tonks disapparated.

Lupin then looked at Harry, "Ready Harry?" he asked. Harry nodded and like Ron did he closed his eyes, focusing on his destination, the front gates of Hogwarts. "Ok then, 1…2...3." Harry took a step and felt the same horrible sensation of being forced through a small rubber tube, but the feeling only lasted a few seconds and when he opened his eyes he saw the familiar statues of winged boar's that greeted any and all visitors to the castle.

"Harry, Ron!" came as familiar voice from the other side of the gates. It was Hermione looking very pretty in the same blue robes that she had worn to the Yule Ball three years earlier and carrying a box that was wrapped in brown paper. "I was beginning to wonder when you were going to get here." Hermione said.

"We're here now," Ron told her, "isn't that all that matters?"

Hermione was about to say something when Lupin cut her off, "Let's just head up to the castle, Arthur and Molly are probably waiting for us.

Sure enough when they got to the oak front doors of the castle, Mr. Weasley was standing there with another man who Harry didn't recognize right away. As they approached Mr. Weasley spotted them and waved them over. "I want all of you to meet Fleur's father Pier Delacour." Mr. Delacour gave a slight bow to them, "Pier, I want you to meet my youngest son Ronald, and his friends, and practically members of the family as well, Hermione Granger and …."

"'Arry Potter!" Mr. Delacour said stepping forward and grabbing Harry's hand, "I 'ave of course been wanting to meet you ever since I 'eard about what you did for Gabriel."

"Thank you sir." Harry said a little taken aback.

"I helped too you know." Ron told him enthusiastically, ignoring Hermione's snort.

"And this," Mr. Weasley continued as if he had not been interrupted, "is Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, close friends of the family." Mr. Delacour shook each of their hands.

"If you will excuse us," Hermione said, "we have something that we have to do before the wedding." Before anyone could say anything, she hurried away with Harry and Ron inside of the castle.

"What was that about?" Ron asked Hermione as the three of they began to walk up the marble staircase.

"We don't have that much time before the wedding begins, and I just thought we needed to get moving."

"Besides Ron," Harry added, "it will probably take you a while to find the book in the Room of Requirement." The day before they had decided it would be best to retrieve Harry's copy of Advanced Potion Making, which they now knew had once belonged to Snape. "Do you have the directions I gave you?"

Ron pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket and held it up, "Got it right here."

"Good luck then." Hermione told him as they reached the floor that Slughorn's office was on. Harry and Hermione watched as Ron headed up the stairs to the seventh floor were the room was, then turned and headed down the corridor.

When they reached Slughorn's office Harry knocked on the door. "Just a moment!" came Slughorn's voice through the door. A moment later, the door opened and there stood Professor Horace Slughorn. He was a short wizard with a bald spot on the top of his head, which Harry knew was once straw colored, and proceeded only by his gut. It was apparent he was in the process of changing into his dress robes for the wedding, but his face lit up when he saw them, "Harry, Hermione it's good to see you again. No doubt here for the wedding of young Ralph's brother." Slughorn often got Ron's name wrong.

"It's Ron Professor," Hermione said, "and yes, we are here for Bill's wedding."

"Wish I had had the chance to have taught that one myself," Slughorn said as he let them in, "from what I have heard he was a bright one when he was in school, Head Boy and all…"

Slughorn trailed off as if regretting his decision to leave before Bill had attended Hogwarts, when Hermione handed him the box, "Here you are Professor, and we got this for you."

Slughorn took the box and opened it, "Crystallized Pineapple, you shouldn't have." He then took on a serious look, "But I have to wonder what this is all about."

"What do you mean Professor?" Harry asked hoping that Slughorn had not seen through their attempt to butter him up.

"What I mean Harry is that most of the time students don't give me this unless they want something from me." Before either Harry or Hermione could respond to this Slughorn added, "I know that you got that memory from me Harry, somehow."

Harry cursed under his breath as Hermione asked, "What memory would that be?"

"The one that Dumbledore asked you to recover for him Harry." Slughorn said.

Figuring that there was no point in denying it Harry asked, "How did you find out?"

"_Priori Incantatem_!" Slughorn told them

"Oh." Hermione said. Harry remembered Amos Diggory using that spell to find out if Harry's wand had been the one that had cast the Dark Mark at the Quidditch World Cup three years earlier, and it had been one of the factors that helped Harry to escape from Voldemort the night that he had returned.

"Yes, I always make sure to check my wand after I get drunk to make sure nothing happened with it, and that nobody took advantage of me." Harry felt his stomach sink a little when Slughorn said this. Seeing the look on his face Slughorn said cheerfully, "But I guess it was only a matter of time before Dumbledore got hold of the memory."

"Well," Harry said his spirits raised a little from what Slughorn had told him, "this is your chance to make up for what you inadvertently did."

At this Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment from her pocket and gave it to Slughorn, "We need you to brew up two cauldrons this potion for us." She told him.

Slughorn took the parchment and looked it over, "This seems like a rather complicated potion to prepare." He told them, "Plus if this stuff does what I think it will do, then I need to brew it in secret, not even I can know about it until it is time to do something to it." Slughorn looked down at the parchment again as if considering it. After a moment of this he looked back up at them, "I have a few suggestions about how to keep it a secret, but where can we brew such a potion at without the entire school knowing?"

"That much we can answer for you," Harry told him, "have you ever heard of the Room of Requirement?"

Slughorn nodded, "Yes I have, but I was never able to locate it." He eyed them suspiciously, "But I take it you know where it is."

Both Harry and Hermione nodded, "We can also tell you how to get in there and to make it the perfect place to brew any type of potion you can think of." Hermione added.

Slughorn thought about it for a moment, "Ok, I will need one of you to fetch Professor McGonagall for me, while the other one stays here and tells me everything that I need to know."

Hermione rushed off to find McGonagall while Harry stayed and told Slughorn everything that he needed to know about getting into the room. By the time he had finished, Hermione had returned with McGonagall, who was wearing robes of what appeared to be pure gold. "What do you need Horace?"

Slughorn stood up, "Minerva I need you to do cast some spells on me."

McGonagall gave him an odd look, "What kind of spells?"

As if he was trying to resign himself to the task at hand, he told McGonagall almost everything Harry and Hermione had told him, "In closing I think it would be wise should I be captured by You-Know-Who's supporters that I not know anything. I need you to first to put a mild memory charm on me in order for me to forget about what I have told you."

"But that won't protect you against really powerful magic." McGonagall told him.

"No it won't, "Slughorn agreed, "but then I want for you to use the Imperious Curse on me." McGonagall looked shocked at the suggestion even being made, but before she could object to this Slughorn raised his hand, "I know what you are going to tell me Minerva, but I did something terrible in my past and by helping these two out maybe I can make up for it in some way. So please don't try to talk me out of it."

McGonagall still had a horrified expression on her face, but that soon turned to one of understanding, "Very well Horace I will do it." She looked at Harry and Hermione, "But only because I can't help but think that Dumbledore would have approved of it being done just this one time." McGonagall pulled out her wand and pointed it at Slughorn, who in turn closed his eyes, "_Obliviate_!" she said. After a few moments she held up her wand and said with more power in her voice, "_Imperio_!" She then turned to Harry and Hermione. "I did as I was asked to, but what has happened here is not to be discussed outside of this room. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" Both Harry and Hermione nodded. "Good, now tell him what he needs to do, I am going outside."

Leaving Hermione to give Slughorn his instructions, Harry stepped out of the classroom, deep in thought. He couldn't get over how Slughorn had let himself be put under the Imperious Curse just so he would not have to worry abut Voldemort learning about Harry's search for the Horcruxes. This was defiantly not the same Slughorn he and Dumbledore had visited not much more than a year ago in order to convince him to return to his old post, or the same man that boasted about his famous former students or the members of the Slug Club that he had founded before Voldemort had even come to the school.

Harry's thought were interrupted when he saw Ron walking down the corridor towards him, under his arm was the copy of Advance Potion Making that he had hidden in the Room of Requirement. "It took me a little longer than I had anticipated to find it," Ron told him when he reached Harry, "but it was right were you told me it would be." Ron then looked at the door to Slughorn's office, "How did it go with Slughorn?"

"He agreed to do it," Harry said as the door opened and Hermione stepped out of the room to join them, "but we will fill you in on the particulars later, right now we have a wedding to get to."

When they got to the setup of chairs on the west wide of the castle where the ceremony was to take place, they quickly found three seats up front with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. On a small stage off to the side, Harry saw the Weird Sisters were standing there. They were more than likely there to provide any music that was required.

Up on a platform in front of everyone McGonagall, who was looking rather happy despite what she had just done, stood there dwarfed by Madam Maxime, who was wearing robes of what looked like pure silver. Bill, whose scars looked better than the last time that they had seen him, stood there off to the side as did Fred and George. Harry moved a little closer to Mr. Weasley, "I thought Charlie was going to be up there." He whispered.

"Charlie had a last minute crisis come up at the reserve just before he left." Mr. Weasley told Harry in a whisper.

At that time McGonagall stepped forward, "Will everyone please rise as the bridal party approaches the platform." She called out, and everyone immediately rose up out of their seats. Through the crowd of people that sat behind them, Harry was able to spot Ginny's red hair which appeared to be tied up on top of her head. When they got closer to the platform, Harry saw she was walking next to Fleur's sister Gabriel, who had her silvery hair done up the same way, and both of them were wearing matching emerald green dress robes. When they reached the platform, Fred and George stepped forward and took their arms, George and Gabriel taking up a position on McGonagall's left, Fred and Ginny to the right.

It was at that time that the Weird Sisters began to play what sounded like a wedding march, though the combination of bagpipes, drums, and guitar were what really killed the music. This, and Hermione elbowing him in the ribs, helped Harry to take his eyes off of Ginny, and look to the back were Fleur was being escorted up to the platform by her father. She had on a set of silvery robes that complemented her hair which was topped by a beautiful tiara, obviously the one that Mrs. Weasley had told her about several weeks earlier.

When they got to the platform, the Weird Sisters stopped playing and Bill stepped forward and took Fleur's hand, they then faced each other hands held out and laying palm in palm. McGonagall stepped forward and pulled her wand out at the same time. "It is good to see everyone here for a happy occasion, particularly the marriage of William Weasley and Fleur Delacour. The honor of marrying their students has been a tradition for headmasters and headmistresses for centuries, and though I wish another could be here instead of me, I am more than happy to perform this most sacred of magic in our world."

Holding her wand just inches above their hands, McGonagall first addressed Bill, "Do you William Weasley swear to take this woman, Fleur Delacour as your partner in all things that you do? Will you raise any children you have with the same love and commitment that your parents showed to you? Will you protect her from all dangers? Will you promise to always be there for her and to never stray from that love?"

Looking into Fleur's eyes Bill said, "I will!" At these words a small golden fireball came out of McGonagall's wand and encircled one of Bill and Fleur's hands. Madam Maxime then stepped forward and pointing her wand in the same way as McGonagall was asked the same thing of Fleur and when she said "Oui!" a second flame, this time silver in color came out of the wand tip and encircled their other hands.

Madam Maxime stepped back and McGonagall stepped forward again, "It is with the greatest of pleasures that I pronounce this Union to be completed, and I present to all of their friends and family Mr. and Mrs. William Weasley."

The Weird Sisters began to play again as Bill and Fleur led the way up to the castle were the celebration would be held in the Great Hall. "You two go ahead," Harry told Ron and Hermione, "I will catch up later." Nodding they walked up to the school with the rest of the guests.

Harry headed out the other way to where the white tomb that Dumbledore's body was encased in sat. Sitting down in the grass in front of the tomb, Harry looked out over the lake, then back at the tomb. He thought about all of the advice and wisdom Dumbledore had given to him over the last six years. Harry had not always agreed with the way he did things, particularly the fact that he trusted Snape, he still had more than a little respect for the man that had been so much like a father figure to him. Even after he had met Sirius and had learned the truth about his godfather, it was Dumbledore that had been there to give him his own brand of wisdom and advice.

Harry stood up and walked over to the tomb and placing his hand on top of it he said, "I swear I will finish what you started and defeat Voldemort once and for all, so that no more good wizards or witches will have to suffer the same fate that you, my parents, and Sirius had to."

He didn't know how long he had been out their when he heard somebody walk up behind him, "I had a feeling I might find you here." Ginny said as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Sorry," Harry said, "I only intended to be out here for a short time."

"Doesn't matter," Ginny told him as he turned around to face her, "you didn't miss much, to tell the truth, mum was more worried about you than I was."

"Then let's head in." He told her, and holding out his arm to escort her they walked back up to the castle, "After all, we don't want your mum to get worried." Ginny just smiled at him.


	6. The Search Begins

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 6: The Search Begins**

In the weeks that followed Bill and Fleur's wedding, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were hard at work getting ready to hunt down the remaining Horcruxes. With the locket safely hidden under the mattress of Harry's bed, and the fact they would not have a chance to kill Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake, until they actually faced him, which meant they would only have to find two more Horcruxes.

Hermione spent most of her time looking though the books she had picked up in Diagon Alley as well as the book set Sirius and Lupin had given Harry the Christmas before last on things like Magical Concealment, and Protective Spells, and Creatures of the Dark Arts, and how to defeat them. Ginny now spent most of her time helping Hermione in this task. Meanwhile, all three of them were still getting lessons from Lupin and Mad Eye in order to get them ready for anything they might come up against. Harry and Ron were now all but experts at casting silent charms and hexes.

Finally on the morning of July 31st, Harry woke up to find several presents lying in front of his bed. Ron was sitting up in his bed looking at the pile. "Pretty good haul for you this year Harry." He said. Harry just grinned back at him. Though this was the day Harry came of age, at least for a wizard, this was also another big day for both him and Ron. Later in the morning, the two of them, along with Hermione, would be going to the Ministry of Magic so they could take their apparition exam. This in itself would mark the beginning of their quest to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, and then Voldemort himself.

Harry ripped into his gifts. There was the usual stuff, a box full of sweets and a sweater from Mrs. Weasley and a diary from Hermione. Hermione had mentioned he might want to keep a record of this last great adventure for wizard historians. Other gifts included a watch from Mad Eye, Tonks, and Lupin, and a picture himself and Ginny. The figures in the picture were waving at him. "I take it that is from Ginny." Ron said over Harry's shoulder.

From the start of his relationship with Ginny, Ron had acted like he was ok with it. He had also made it clear that he preferred her to go out with Harry rather than the boyfriends she had had in the past, namely Dean Thomas a fellow Gryffindor in their year, and Michael Corner a Ravenclaw also in their year at school. Ever since that night right after the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw Quidditch match, Harry had felt he was pushing his luck. He had in fact struggled most of the year with the question of rather to ask Ginny out or not because he was afraid about what it would do to his friendship with Ron. But now was not the time to talk to Ron about this, after all in a few hours they would be headed off to the Ministry of Magic to take their apparition exam and he didn't want him to be distracted by anything.

"Yeah it is." Harry said and instead of placing it on his nightstand he put it facedown on his bed. He then started getting dressed.

"Harry," Ron said as he too began to get dressed, "you don't have to do this."

"Do what?" Harry asked pulling on his shirt.

Ron gave him as stern look, "You don't have to do these things when it comes to my sister."

Harry looked over at Ron as he continued, "I might not have been the most receptive to your feelings towards Ginny right away, but that was only because I didn't want her to get hurt." He gave Harry a smile, "I noticed something though, when Ginny is with you, she is happier than I have ever known her to be, and that is all that I want for her…for you both."

Harry stood there for a moment, then picked the picture up off the bed, both figures were glaring at him, and placed it on his night stand. "Thanks Ron." Harry said. He then got a dubious look on his face, "Now when are you going to make yourself happy and ask a certain someone out?" he asked.

Ron gave Harry a strange look, "Lavender and I are not seeing each other anymore, you know that."

"That's not who I am talking about." Harry said as he sat own on the bed to put on his shoes.

Ron gave Harry another strange look, "Who are you talking about then?" He asked. But Harry didn't answer that question, instead he headed for the door, leaving a perplexed Ron in the room.

By the time that Ron had made it down to the kitchen, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting at the table eating breakfast, while Mrs. Weasley hurried about making sure that everyone had enough to eat. "So when are you leaving for the Ministry?" Ginny asked as Ron sat down at the table.

"Harry and Ron's appointment is at 10 o'clock," said Hermione as she looked at her watch, "which does not leave us with much time."

Harry looked up at the old clock that hung on the wall and saw that it was almost 9:15. Ron must have noticed this as well because he began to shovel food into his mouth. Harry also began to eat a little faster. By the time 9:35 had come around, the three of them were standing in front of the kitchen fireplace. Hermione held out the container with the Floo Powder in it and both Harry and Ron took a pinch of it. Hermione then threw the powder onto the fire and shouted "Ministry of Magic!" as she stepped into it.

As Ron entered the fire Ginny gave Harry a kiss on the cheek and told him "Good luck."

With his spirits soaring, he threw the Floo Powder onto the fire and stepped into it shouting "Ministry of Magic!" as he looked back over his shoulder for one last glimpse of Ginny before the flames consumed him. He closed his eyes and felt himself being spun around really fast for a few moments, then with out any warning he felt firm ground under him, the sound of a lot of people talking and moving around, and the sound of water running. When he opened his eyes, Harry saw he was in the main hallway of the Ministry of Magic.

Before he could even move one inch though several people, more than likely Aurors, ran up to him and began moving secrecy detectors all over him. When Harry looked to his left, he saw Ron and Hermione were also going though the same procedure. After what seemed like an eternity the Aurors, apparently satisfied they weren't carrying any concealed dark objects moved away from them, "Follow me please." Said a female Auror, and she led them to the guard station were the same badly shaven wizard that Harry had met two years earlier when he was here for a disciplinary hearing sat looking at them approach. Eric was his name.

In a bored voice Eric held out his hand, "Wands." Harry immediately pulled out his wand and handed it to the wizard. Giving each other a look, Ron and Hermione followed suite. One at a time, he dropped the wands onto the device that looked like a set of scales, but with only one dish. When each wand was placed into the dish, it began to rattle and emitted a small slip of parchment. Eric then confirmed the information on the parchment, stuck it on a long spike, and handed the wand back to its owner. "What are you here for?" he asked them producing three blank badges and placing them on the scales as well.

"Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley to take their Apparition Exam," Hermione told Eric, "and Hermione Granger - Visitor."

Eric handed them their ID Badges and before he could say anything to them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned around and headed straight for the lift. When they got there they were surprised to find Mr. Weasley waiting for them. "Thought I would escort you to your exam." He told them.

"Thanks Mr. Weasley." Hermione told him as they entered the lift car with several other witches and wizards, as well as several paper airplanes, the golden grille closing behind them with a crash.

As the lift began to move, a cool female voice began to speak, "Level seven, Department of Magical Games and Sports, incorporating the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club, and Ludicrous Patens Office." The lift stopped at this level and a few of the witches and wizards got out, as well as several of the paper airplanes, but they were replaced by several more.

With a crash the gates closed again and the lift began to move. "Level six," the voice started up again, "Department of Magical Transportation, incorporating the Floo Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, Portkey Office, and Apparation Test Center."

"This is our stop." Mr. Weasley said as he led the four of them out of the lift, and down a long hallway to a door that read 'Apparation Testing Center'. Inside they found a witch sitting behind the counter. "Hello Joanna." Mr. Weasley told the witch.

"Hello Arthur," she then looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "I see that you have some children testing today."

Mr. Weasley shook his head then indicated Ron, "Only this one, my youngest son Ron." He then indicated Harry and Hermione, "And this is Harry Potter and Hermione Granger." Joanna nodded politely to Hermione, and did the familiar shift to look for the scar on Harry's forehead. "Harry will also be testing today." Mr. Weasley added.

"Well if you lot will have a seat over there," Joanna told them gesturing to a set of seats off to the side, "I will get a couple of examiners up here to take care of you."

They didn't have to wait long for an examiner. Within moments, a witch and a wizard came out. They both greeted Mr. Weasley, and then took Harry and Ron though the door that they had just come out of.

Less than an hour later, both Harry and Ron, followed by the examiners, came out of the room with huge smiles on their faces. The wizard stepped up to Joanna at the counter and told her, "Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley passed."

"Thanks Jacob." She told him, and after looking at a chart headed over to get his next tester.

"Well done, both of you." Mr. Weasley told them when they were back in the hallway.

"Thanks dad." Ron said, "It was a lot easier the second time around." He told his father.

"I am going to contact your mother." Mr. Weasley told them, "See you later." And he disapparated with a soft popping sound.

"Shall we head back then?" Ron asked.

"We can't." Hermione told him. Before Ron could say anything though, Hermione explained, "Though people can apperate anywhere inside of the Ministry, the only place they can disapparate out of it is in the main lobby."

Ron mumbled something that sounded like 'that stinks' under his breath and they headed back to the lift, which took them right down to the lobby. Hermione gave a distasteful look at the Fountain of Magical Brethren, then disapparated. Harry gave Ron a nod and he then disapparated. Harry took one final look around the place when he saw Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister of Magic walking his way. "A moment please Harry." The Minister called.

Harry wanted to just disapparate away from the Minister, but decided that he would at least hear what the man had to say before doing just that. "What do you want this time," Harry told him, "and please don't draw it out like you usually do, I have to be somewhere." This was of course true since he knew that Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had undoubtedly fixed up a good meal to celebrate both Harry and Ron passing their apparition test and his birthday. "And if you are going to approach me about being the Ministries poster boy, you can still forget about it."

Scrimgeour stopped only a few feet away from Harry, "I take it you have heard about my Zero Tolerance policy towards Death Eaters or other supporters of You-Know-Who, and I have released Stan Shunpike just like you wanted." Harry nodded, "Then what is keeping you from supporting the Ministry and letting us help you stop You-Know-Who?"

Harry took a deep breath, more to keep his voice calm than anything else, "The point is Stan Shunpike should never have been arrested in the first place. Second your Zero Tolerance Policy sounds too much like something that Barty Crouch would have done. Look at where that got him. Finally, Dumbledore knew me enough to know I can do what I have to do by myself. Now if you will excuse me Minister, I have someplace I would rather be right now." And before Scrimgeour could say another work Harry pictured the kitchen in Number Four Grimmauld Place in his mind and turned around. There was that horrible sensation of being forced through a small rubber tube, then it was over and Harry could smell Mrs. Weasley good cooking.

He walked over to the kitchen table were Ron was telling Hermione, Ginny, and Lupin about the exam, "So we were led into this huge room were there was an obstacle course that we had to apperate through."

"Really?" Ginny asked, she was obviously interested since she would have to take her apparition exam in a few months.

"Oh yeah," Ron told them, "it wasn't like the test Hermione and I took in Hogsmeade."

"It was definitely an experience." Harry told them as he sat down at the table.

"What took you so long Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I ran into Rufus Scrimgeour." Harry told them, "Tried to get me to be the Ministries Poster Boy again."

"I think we can safely assume you told him no." Lupin said. Harry nodded. "Good, then while Ron is telling Hermione and Ginny about the test you had to take I would like to examine you before lunch starts."

"What do you want to examine me on?" Harry asked.

"Just to see how well you hold up in a duel." Lupin reassured him. "It is a full moon tonight and I am going to join the other Werewolves for the transformation, but before I go I wanted to see if you are ready in case something happens while I am gone." Lupin then looked right at Ron and Hermione, "Ron will be next, then Hermione."

Harry nodded and followed Lupin into the sitting room, which he immediately noticed had been emptied of all furniture, he also noticed that two lines were drawn on the floor. Lupin walked over behind one of them, while Harry stood behind the second. They both raised their wands in respect to each other and with blinding speed Lupin struck, pointing his wand at Harry and shooting out a blast wave.

Harry immediately countered with a shield charm, and struck back with the Jelly Legs hex, which Lupin dodged without much difficulty. Harry raised his wand again to perform the Full Body Bind curse when he got hit by a blast from Lupin's wand that threw him back a few feet, he landed hard on the floor knocking the breath out of him. As Harry struggled to get back on his feet, he came face to face with the tip of Lupin's wand.

Without thinking Harry pointed his wand upwards and performed the Banishing charm. This caught Lupin off guard and he was throne off of Harry. He then pointed his wand at Lupin and performed the Disarming charm, followed by a Summoning Charm. This not only blasted Lupin's wand out of his hand, but it also brought the wand right to Harry's outstretched hand. Harry then pointed his wand at Lupin, "Enough?" he asked.

Lupin nodded, "Enough!" and held out his hand for Harry to help him up. Harry reached down to grab Lupin's hand, but Lupin suddenly reached for his wand, pulling it out of Harry's hand, and with a swishing motion he was once again throne backwards several feet, hitting the ground hard. "Remember Harry in a duel never let your guard down, especially when you are dueling with a Death Eater, or even with Voldemort himself."

Harry nodded his understanding of this, then quickly brought up his wand and performed the Full Body Bind curse. Lupin's body went ridged and he fell over backwards hitting the ground. Harry pulled Lupin's wand out of his hand before he did the counter curse. "Very good Harry, very good." Lupin told him when he was unfrozen.

"Thanks Professor." Harry told him.

"Not much longer and you will be more than a match for Voldemort and his supporters." Lupin told him as Harry handed him back his wand. They then walked back to the kitchen where Ron had apparently finished his story about the apparition test and was now waiting for his turn to come.

After Lupin had tested Ron and Hermione, the three of them had gone up to Harry and Ron's room, Hermione had told them she had made a discovery. Once the door had been made Imperturbable so they could not be overheard. It was at this time Harry was glad the picture of Phineas Nigellus was no longer hanging in the room. "So what do you have for us Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Well," Hermione began, "for the last month, I have been trying to figure out where Voldemort would have hidden the Horcruxes. Ever since you told us Dumbledore had found Slytherin's ring in the house Voldemort's family used to live in, and I found out the locket was hidden in a cave he had visited as a child, I have been searching for places that might have had some significance to Voldemort as he was growing up."

"But the diary Lucius Malfoy planted on Ginny wasn't hidden in any special place." Ron pointed out.

"That is because Dumbledore believed it was Voldemort's wish it be eventually smuggled into Hogwarts." Harry told Ron.

"Precisely my point," Hermione put in, "Voldemort was going to hide the diary at Hogwarts, which he viewed as a major part of his life after he found out what he was."

"Then where would You-Know-Who have put one of the Horcruxes?" Ron asked

"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione asked, and when she didn't get and answer from either of them she said, "The orphanage he grew up in."

Harry struck himself in the head, it had been so obvious that would have been one of the hiding places for the Horcruxes. Then he thought of something, "How do we know one of them is hidden there?" Harry asked.

As if she had been expecting this question Hermione pulled out of a bag she had brought along a set of papers that had obviously been printed off the internet. "I have been doing some research at the local library," she began as she handed the papers to Harry and Ron, "when I looked into the possibility Voldemort had indeed hidden one of the Horcruxes in a place that he had known when he grew up, I remembered you telling us Harry that he grew up an orphanage. So I did a search on the muggle internet for old orphanages that were first over fifty years old and were abandoned."

"Abandoned?" Harry asked.

"Internet?" Ron followed

Oblivious to Ron's question Hermione answered, "The Horcrux would put off a lot of negative energy, not to mention the fact Voldemort would have put into effect anti muggle charms as part of the protection."

Harry nodded in understanding, "So what did you find out?" he asked.

"Well," Hermione began, "there were only a handful of orphanages that fit what we are looking for, but of all those this one," Hermione pointed out one orphanage on the list in particular, "seemed the most likely place to start."

Harry looked at the story, St. Bastian's Orphanage. "In a nut shell," Hermione told them, "apparently about thirty-five to forty years ago the owner of the orphanage was found dead in his bed. Ever since then it has been empty."

"What makes that so unusual?" Ron asked.

"Well, wouldn't you find it unusual if a healthy man of suddenly died for no physical or medical reason?" Hermione asked.

Harry picked up on what she said immediately, "The _Avada Kedavera_ curse." Harry said. Hermione just nodded. "Then I think St. Bastian's will be our first stop in our search for the Horcruxes."

Before anyone could say anything to this, there was a loud knock at the door. Hastily Harry and Ron stuffed the papers Hermione had given to them back into her bag. While they did this Hermione pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door. "Come in." Harry said when everything was out of sight.

The door opened to reveal Fred and George. "We hear you can apperate now Ron." Fred said.

"Where did you hear about that?" Ron asked.

"Ginny told us." George told them.

"Actually she was telling us Harry had passed his test with flying colors," Fred told them, "and we figured that since you failed…"

"Miserably I might add." George said.

"Thank you George," Fred told his twin brother, "that you might take the test with Harry this time."

"And by the look on your reaction when we mentioned it I'd say our suspicions were correct." George put in.

The twins walked around the room inspecting everything as they did so. "What are you looking for?" Ron asked then with a touch of annoyance in his voice.

The twins looked at each other again before answering, "Well it is no secret to anyone that works with the Order of the Phoenix that you lot are trying to save the our World from You-Know-Who." George said.

"And since you made the door Imperturbable, that could only mean that you were talking about something secret when we arrived." Fred added.

"Look," Harry told them, "it's not like we want to keep any of you in the dark about what we are doing, but if Voldemort," Fred and George gave a little shudder at the sound of the name, "found out about it before we finished from any of you it could seriously jeopardize any chance we have of stopping him once and for all."

Fred and George looked at each other, "Well if you insist on keeping us in the dark," Fred said, "then there is nothing we can do about it."

"Or is there." George said, with a sudden maniacal gleam in his eye. Before Harry, Ron, or Hermione could react both of the twins pulled out their wands and shouted in unison "_Crusio_!" both Ron and Hermione crumpled to the floor writhing in pain, but Harry had quickly jumped into the hallway. "You can't hide Harry." George called out form inside of the room.

Thinking quickly Harry pulled his invisibility cloak out from one of his pockets and threw it over himself. When the twins came out into the hallway they looked around for him. "Where is he?" George asked.

"He must be under his invisibility cloak." Fred told him.

Silently Harry slipped back into the room and saw that Ron and Hermione were both unconscious on the floor, but he also saw that they were still breathing so that meant they had only passed out. Harry headed over to the wardrobe where they had hidden their supplies from the joke shop and pointed his wand at the lock on the door. Silently he cast the _Alohomora_ charm and heard a soft click as the door came open.

Trying not to make any noise Harry rummaged through their supplies and found what he was looking for. Taking what he needed, he closed the door and headed back out into the hallway. He heard the twins up on the next floor blasting doors open in their attempt to find him. For his plan to work, Harry needed some open space so he headed down the steps to the sitting room. As he walked down the steps a quietly as he could he saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley lying on the floor unconscious. He stopped by them quickly as found that they were still alive as well. Then he saw her, Ginny was lying a few feet away just as unconscious as her parents were, but thankfully still alive.

Harry figured they would be ok where they were and walked into the sitting room. Once in the room he pulled off his cloak and stuffed it back into his pocket. He then placed one furniture that thankfully Lupin had replaced before he had left. Harry then pointed his wand at the device and it came to life, making lots of noise.

Harry heard Fred and George rush down the steps and ducked down behind the chair that he was hiding behind as they ran into the room. When they saw the Decoy Detonator on the floor Fred called out, "Did you really think that this would work Harry, after all we invented it."

Harry pulled out a set of goggles from his pocket, then a small pile of powder. "Perhaps you did Fred," Harry called out, "but that wasn't the only thing I got from you." At that moment he threw the powder up into the air and everything instantly were dark.

As Harry slipped the goggles over his eyes George shouted, "He's using Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder."

"That's right." Harry told them as he got out from behind the chair and aimed his wand at them, "This is for your own good, _Stupefy_!" The jinx hit its mark as Fred was thrown backwards. Harry then pointed his wand at George, and shouted "_Stupefy_!" But George jumped out of the way before Harry's spell could hit him.

Harry almost hit himself again for shouting the spell instead of doing it non verbally. Taking aim at George again Harry fired off another stunning charm. This time it hit George square in the chest and sent him flying back into the wall.

Harry rushed out of the sitting room and fell to the side of Mr. Weasley. He pointed his wand at Mr. Weasley's chest and there was a flash of red light. Seconds later Mr. Weasley's eyes opened and he looked up at Harry. "What happened Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked

"What is the last thing that you remember?" Harry asked.

Mr. Weasley thought about it, "I remember Fred and George showing up for your party and after that I don't remember much."

Harry wasn't sure how to best put this, "Sir, Fred and George attacked Ron and Hermione with the Crusiatus curse, and must have stunned you, Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny before they came up to find us."

Shock emanated from Mr. Weasley's eyes, "But why would they do that?" he asked but instantly had his answer, "The Imperious Curse."

Harry nodded at this, after all it was the only conclusion that made any sense. "I need your help," Harry indicated the still dark sitting room, "I knocked them out, but we still have to do something with them, not to mention everyone else needs to be woken up."

"I'll take care of that, and I will also alert Alastor, Tonks, and Kingsley about what has happened. They will know what to do." Mr. Weasley said as Harry helped him to his feet. "But first we will need to tie the twins up so they can't do anything else before the others get here."

"I can take care of that one." Harry said as he slipped the goggles back over his eyes. With a nod from Mr. Weasley Harry walked back into the sitting room.

By the time that Mad Eye, Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, a large dark skinned wizard with a shaven head, had arrived Fred and George were being held tightly by ropes and everyone had been revived, though Ron and Hermione were still very sore. Tonks immediately went over to comfort Mrs. Weasley who had not stopped crying since she had found out what had happened to the twins while Kingsley and Mad Eye went to talk to Mr. Weasley.

Within an hour, the twins were on their way to St. Mungo's Hospital for magical Maladies and Injuries, escorted by Kingsley and Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley along for the ride. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny sat in the sitting room with Mad Eye who had decided to stay behind. "I just can't believe it." Ron said.

"Well believe it." Mad Eye said, "I have seen much worse than this from family members that have turned on each other due to that blasted curse."

They continued talking for another hour before Mad Eye, sensing that Harry wanted to talk to Ron and Hermione alone asked Ginny for some help getting something to drink. When they were alone, Harry turned to the others. "Hermione I want you to get anything that you need tomorrow. Because the day after that we are going to that orphanage and getting that Horcrux." The looks that both Hermione and Ron gave to Harry told him that they were behind him all the way. "I will not let this happen to another friend." Harry told them as he pounded his fist into his open hand, "I swear it!"


	7. The Orphanage

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 7: The Orphanage**

Everyone was still awake in the sitting room when Mr. Weasley returned with news on Fred and George. After being bombarded with questions, Mad Eye finally shouted "Enough!" and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny fell silent. "Now one at a time." Mad Eye told them.

"Are Fred and George all right?" Ginny asked before anyone else could get a chance to.

Mr. Weasley walked over to one of the arm chairs and literally fell into it before he answered, "They will be fine." Mr. Weasley told them, "They are themselves again, but the healers wanted to keep them for a few days for observation…just to be on the safe side."

"Do they know what happened to them?" Harry asked.

"That was one of the first things we asked them as well," Mr. Weasley said as he conjured up a steaming hot cup of tea. "They told us the last thing they remembered was leaving the joke shop to come here for the party, and then waking up at St. Mungo's." Mr. Weasley took a sip of the tea and settled back in the chair.

"Are they free of the curse now dad?" Ron asked.

Mr. Weasley shook his head, "Nobody can tell us that," he said, taking another, "they can't tell if the curse was just a one time thing, if they would do the same thing every time they came here, or anything else. They can't even be sure the joke shop won't set them off."

"Then who will watch the shop for them?" Ginny asked.

"Lee Jordan is going to be watching the store for them until they get out of St. Mungo's…maybe even longer." Mr. Weasley told them. He took another sip of his tea, "Now, no more questions. Your mother," he was obviously directing this comment at Ron and Ginny, "will be home sometime tomorrow and I don't want her to have you lot all tired out." As Mr. Weasley watched them go, he called out, "A moment Harry."

Harry stopped, and when the other three were out of the room, he turned to Mr. Weasley, "Harry, I just wanted to thank you again for what you did."

"It was nothing really." Harry told him.

"You're being too modest Potter." Mad Eye told him, "What you did not many full grown wizards could have done."

"Indeed, I have told you before it was a lucky day for our family when Ron shared that compartment with you on the train to school." Mr. Weasley told him. "That is yet again that you have saved a member of this family," he continued, "and Molly and I don't know how we can ever repay you."

Harry thought about this for a moment, "You already have Mr. Weasley," Harry said, "you have taken me into your home, even though I might have placed your entire family in danger, not to mention you have made me a part of your family. That means more to me than all the gold in Gringotts."

Mr. Weasley gave Harry a smile, "Thank you Harry. Now you had better be off to bed."

------

Harry didn't wake up till around 1:00 o'clock the next afternoon only to find that Ron had already woken up. After changing into his muggle clothes, he headed down to the kitchen and found Mrs. Weasley was there making lunch for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. "Good afternoon Harry dear." Mrs. Weasley told Harry as he sat down next to Ginny.

Mrs. Weasley set a plate in front of Harry with a sandwich on it, "Fred and George asked me to thank you for them." She told him, "And I just wanted to thank you as well Harry." She told him as tears began to form in her eyes.

Hermione left after lunch to get everything they might need at the orphanage. While she was gone, Harry and Ron practiced all of the spells and jinxes, they had learned over the past several weeks on each other, with Ginny and Tonks, who had come over to see how everyone was doing, watching from the sidelines. That night, as much as Harry insisted it was not necessary, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him a belated birthday party. Hermione finally returned just after the party began. When they saw her, Harry nudged Ron, who thankfully was standing right next to him at the time, in the ribs. Excusing themselves, they went up to the room Hermione was using.

When she saw them, Hermione began to tell them what she had been doing all day, "First I went to Hogwarts to check in on how Professor Slughorn was coming on with the potions, and it appears both cauldrons will be ready right on time." She informed them, "I also contacted the lady that is caretaker for St. Bastian's Orphanage, a Mrs. Wilson, and she will be expecting us early tomorrow morning."

"Well done Hermione," Harry told her, "did you get the stuff you think you will need tomorrow?"

Hermione nodded, "I even found an old potions bag to carry everything around in." She indicated leather colored bag that sat at her feet.

"Alright then," Harry began looking at both Ron and Hermione, "we will leave first thing in the morning."

------

"What would they want with that old orphanage?" John asked Victor.

Victor shook his head, "I wish I could tell you John, but that is beside the point. Sam is already on her way there to assist in any way she can." Victor looked the younger man square in the eye, "I want you to contact your uncle and make arrangements to get inside the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix."

John gave Victor a strange look, "To what end?"

"Have you ever heard of the term Priori Incantatem?" Victor asked.

"Isn't that what happens when a wizard or a witch duels against another wizard or witch whose wand has a core that is from the same magical animal?"

Victor nodded, "Voldemort's wand has a Phoenix feather at the core of it," he explained, "that Phoenix gave only one other feather to Ollivander, and that wand was sold to…"

"Harry Potter!" John said comprehension evident on his face. "Then when Potter duels with Voldemort…"

"Priori Incantatem will happen again." Victor said.

John gave Victor a strange look, "Again?"

Victor told John about the night that Voldemort had returned and how he had forced Harry to duel with him, "So when they both cast their spell or curse at the same time, their wands were joined together and several of Voldemort's victims, including Harry's parents emerged from his wand and helped him to escape from there."

"Ok," John said after a moment of silence, "but what does that have to do with me going to Grimmauld Place?"

"You will train Potter in the use of other forms of fighting." Victor told him, "That way he will be able to defeat Voldemort without his wand if he chose not to."

John nodded his understanding at this assignment, "Just one question though…"

"How do I know what happened that night with such detail?" Victor finished, and John nodded, "I am fortunate enough to have been one of the few people that Albus Dumbledore told the entire story to. That is after he heard it from Harry Potter."

------

Harry and Ron woke up early the next morning, dressed, and packed a duffle bag with various equipment and supplies. Among the things they were taking with them were Harry's invisibility cloaks, three pairs of shield gloves, a couple of decoy detonators, some Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, and one set of special goggles for each of them.

When they arrived in the kitchen, they found that Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were sitting at the kitchen table with Hermione, who looked a little disheveled and very tired. Mrs. Weasley looked up when she had noticed that Harry and Ron had entered the room and walked over to fetch a plate of toast and some marmalade. While she did this, Harry and Ron sat down at the table next to Ginny and Hermione.

Mrs. Weasley sat down the plate in front of them and took a seat at the head of the table. It was a long and eerily quiet moment before anyone spoke. "So where are you lot going so early in the morning?" Mrs. Weasley asked them.

"Just out." Ron said though a mouth full of toast.

Mrs. Weasley then gave Harry a stern look, "Well Harry?"

Struck by inspiration, Harry told her, "We're going to visit Neville Longbottom."

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all nodded their heads enthusiastically at this. "Hmmm, and that was what all that training you have been doing for the last month has been for." She told them in no uncertain terms.

"Well you never know when you could be attacked by Death Eaters these days, can you?" Ron said.

"I see." Mrs. Weasley said. They all finished their toast, then Harry, Ron, and Hermione got up and walked over to the middle of the kitchen. Both Ginny and Mrs. Weasley got up too. "So how long will you be gone then?" She asked.

"At least a couple of hours." Hermione told her.

Ginny quickly walked up to Harry and gave him a kiss on the cheek. As she did so she whispered in his ear, "Good Luck!" She then walked back over to stand next to her mother.

"You three be careful now, you hear me?" Mrs. Weasley told them.

"We will!" all three of them said at the same time. All three of them turned in unison and seconds later were standing in an alley.

Hermione led the way down several blocks until they were standing in front of an old building that looked like it had seen better days. A barely legible sign over the front doors read 'St. Bastian's Orphanage'. As they walked up to the building, they found a middle aged muggle woman standing there looking up at the building. This was obviously Mrs. Wilson.

"Mrs. Wilson?" Hermione asked. Mrs. Wilson jumped a little, "My name is Hermione Granger, we talked on the telephone yesterday."

"Ah yes Ms. Granger." She looked at Harry and Ron with a tiny bit of scrutiny, "And these young men are?"

"Oh," Hermione said, "these are my friends and collogues, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley."

"Charmed!" Mrs. Wilson told Harry and Ron, "I suppose you want to get a history of the place before you go inside." All three of them nodded. "Well to be honest I don't really know the entire story myself…just what my mother, who was the administrator when the place was open, told me."

"Just tell us what you know, and we will determine the rest." Harry told her, trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about.

Mrs. Wilson nodded, "From what my mother told me, roughly about thirty-five to forty years ago the owner, Mr. Robins, came in for an inspection. Unfortunately that same night a freak snow storm came in and he was forced to stay here until it had cleared up."

"What's so freaky about a snow storm?" Ron asked.

"It was in the middle of the hottest summer on record, and from what it looked like, on the outside it only snowed here at the orphanage, and strangest of all it had completely cleared up the next day." Mrs. Wilson told them. Harry looked at Hermione, and they both knew that the snow storm was more than likely conjured up by Voldemort. "Anyway Mr. Robins was given a vacant room, the next morning he was found dead."

"Did they ever find out what killed him?" Hermione, who was trying to play her part without flaw asked.

"At first, the medical examiner thought he might have had a heart attack, but when an autopsy was performed on him, it showed he was in perfect health. Not long after, the building began to give off a strange and eerie feeling, almost as if something supernatural was roaming the halls. Finally several months after Mr. Robins was killed, they shipped out all of the orphans and closed the place down."

"What room was he killed in?" Harry asked

"The first room on the second landing." Mrs. Wilson told Harry.

When Mrs. Wilson looked away back at the building Harry gave a knowing look to both Ron and Hermione. "Well, I will leave you to your project for school." Mrs. Wilson told them, "But I won't expect much in any case."

"Why is that?" Harry asked.

"Well," Mrs. Wilson told them, "over the years I have tried to have the place investigated by professional mediums and fixed up by work crews, and every time none of them had ever lasted more than five minutes inside of there." She then pulled out an old key from her pocket and handed it to Hermione, "Good luck in any case." She said and walked back up the path.

Hermione led the way up to the front doors of the building, "Some of those things she mentioned could have been the result of anti muggle spells."

"And the bad feeling everyone got inside after the murder of Mr. Robins could have been either the protection Voldemort put in place or you might have been right about the Horcrux putting off a lot of negative energy."

When all three of them were inside and the door shut behind them, Harry pulled out the invisibility cloak, "We need to determine who will stand guard outside in case Voldemort is becoming wise to what we are doing."

"No need," Ron said holding out a hand for the cloak, "I'll stand guard." Both Harry and Hermione looked at him, "Look, Hermione needs to go because she has spent so much time trying to learn about what type things are protecting the Horcrux, and Harry you are the only one of us that has actually been up against those protections." Ron took the cloak and threw it over himself, "Besides there is still one more Horcrux for me to help recover personally."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then agreeing with Ron's logic, Hermione pulled an earpiece out of her bag, "Then take this." She said holding the earpiece up.

"What is this thing?" Ron asked as the ear piece rose out of Hermione's hand and disappeared.

"It is an enchanted two-way radio." Hermione said as she pulled two more devices out of her bag and handed one of them to Harry. "This will allow for us to stay in constant contact with each other."

"Brilliant!" Harry told her as he put the ear piece in.

"Ok," Ron said, and they heard footsteps going up to the door, "let me know if you find anything." The door then opened up and then closed again.

"Let's Go." Harry said.

After they lit their wands, Harry and Hermione started to walk down one of the hallways that led into the building. After a few moments of walking, they had found a large stone staircase. As they started up the stairs, Harry remembered when he had visited this place in Dumbledore's Pensive. At that time, the administrator of the place was a muggle woman named Cole. He remembered following her and a much younger Dumbledore up these steps to Tom Riddle's room.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted though by Hermione, who poked him hard in the small of the back. "What is it?" he asked her, a little annoyed at the way that she had gotten his attention.

"Look!" She said pointing over the banister.

Harry looked down and saw a small pile that must had consisted of at least ten Red Caps. Nasty creatures that had a tendency to attack anyone they came across. However these Red Caps looked as though they had already gotten into a fight with somebody they could not defeat. "No visible marks on them," Hermione said, "so it must have been done by a wizard."

Harry suppressed the urge to make a comment about that statement and continued up the stairs. When they reached the second landing, it didn't take long for them to find the first room. "Have you noticed this seems way too easy?" Harry asked as Hermione pointed her wand at the door which opened with a click.

"I think your right Harry." She said, "It seems like we have not seen much in the way of protection for this Horcrux, at least not after what you and Dumbledore went though in the cave."

Cautiously they entered the room, wands at the ready for any sign of trouble, but the room seemed quite empty. All that was in it was a bed with an old moth eaten blanket on it, and a large wardrobe that stood opposite of the door. Harry recognized it at once, "That is the wardrobe Voldemort used to hide the items he stole from the other kids." Harry remembered Dumbledore had set the wardrobe on fire when he had visited Tom Riddle over fifty years ago in order to prove he was indeed a wizard, then how, when Dumbledore had found his trophies as he had called them inside it, he had forced Voldemort to return them to their rightful owners.

"Then that would be where Voldemort would have most likely hidden a Horcrux." Hermione said as she cautiously walked over to the wardrobe. Suddenly it began to shake violently. Hermione looked at Harry, "I think there might be a boggart in there." They had learned in their third year that a boggart was a shape shifter that normally took on the form of whatever the person that was fighting it most feared.

"Ok then," Harry said, "you stand off to the side and open the wardrobe, I will take this one." Hermione nodded and stepped off to the side.

Harry concentrated hard on an image in his head, for the only way to defeat a boggart was to picture whatever you feared the most into something else. For Harry, the boggart always took on the form of a dementor. Lupin, who had been the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at the time, had told Harry it had been because what he feared most was fear itself. Banishing these thoughts out of his head, Harry focused on how to make a dementor funny. After a moment he decided that he would dress it up like a clown, complete with long shoes and a red nose.

This image now locked in his mind Harry nodded to Hermione, who in turn pointed her wand at the latch of the wardrobe and it swung open. What came out of it was not a dementor. It was pale skinned, its robes were all torn up and dirty, its eyes were wide, yet unfocused, and unless you counted the fact it seemed to be looking right at Harry. With a stagger in its step, the Inferi walked straight at him, its clammy hands outstretched and ready to make him one of them.

Harry was frozen to the spot as the Inferi boggart walked closer and closer, finally Hermione, realizing something was wrong shouted "_Incendio_!" and a wall of flames shot up between Harry and the boggart.

Realizing what had happened, Harry cleared his mind of the image of the clown dressed dementor and focused instead on a new image. This image locked in his mind he pointed his wand at the boggart and shouted "_Riddikulus_!" There was a loud CRACK and the Inferi changed into a living, breathing man. Seeing that it had worked, Harry let out a good hearty laugh and the boggart exploded.

The wall of flames died away and Hermione rushed over to Harry, "What happened?" she asked

"Don't know." Harry said, "I guess my experience with the Inferi back in the cave affected me more than I thought it had. I was expecting it to change into a dementor."

"Maybe you should rest." Hermione suggested.

Harry shook his head, "We can't take the time for that."

Walking up to the wardrobe, Harry undid the latch and tried to open it, but the doors would not budge. "It must need a tribute to open." He told Hermione, who in turn began to rummage around in her bag for something.

Several seconds later, she pulled out a bottle that was filled with a thick liquid that could only be blood. "I thought we might need it after what you told us about the doorway in the cave." Using an eyedropper, Hermione carefully drew out some of the blood from the bottle and squirted it on the wardrobe. Sure enough the blood almost immediately disappeared and the door opened. There it was gleaming on a shelf, a golden cup with a badger engraved on it. The cup had belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, and Voldemort had stolen form Hepzibah Smith when he was still known as Tom Riddle.

"So what do we do now?" asked Hermione as she looked at the cup.

Harry pointed his wand at the cup, "_Accio Cup_!" he said and the cup moved to the edge of the shelf it was setting on before it stopped dead in its tracks. "Dumbledore told me back in the cave that the simplest solutions often tell us the most."

Hermione nodded and reached out towards the cup which was now moving back to where it was originally setting, "There must be some sort of field here that is preventing the cup from…ouch!" she said as her fingers got close to the shelf. Hermione pulled her hand back and Harry saw that the top of her fingers were red.

"What happened?" he asked, looking at the fingers.

Hermione shook her head, "Don't know, as I reached for the cup it suddenly felt like I was touching something extremely hot."

Harry pulled out a pair of the gloves that he had brought along and put them on. Tentatively he reached out for the cup, but was stopped just before his hand reached the shelf. "It doesn't look like whatever is protecting the cup is going to let me get it with these gloves on." Before Hermione could say anything in protest, Harry pulled off one of the gloves and reached into the wardrobe. The pain was almost unbearable, nothing, not even all the times that his scar hurt him over the years when Voldemort was either present or feeling particularly evil, could compare to this.

Bearing the pain, Harry reached further into the wardrobe until he closed his hand around the cup. When he tried to pull the cup out though, he found his hand was stuck inside of the wardrobe. Hermione, who had gotten over the shock of his actions, now looked at him with a worried look, "Harry what's wrong?"

"My hand is stuck!" Harry told her through gritted teeth, it felt like the flesh of his hand was being eaten away. Hermione grabbed him from behind and began to pull, but this only made it worse as blood began to trickle out of his wrist and down the field. Harry then noticed that the field was becoming weaker, "Hermione pour the rest of the blood out over my wrist.

Without argument Hermione pulled the bottle out again and poured the remaining contents of it over Harry's wrist. There was a bright flash and the two of them found themselves on the other side of the room, the cup clenched in Harry's extremely burned hand.

"We'd better get you out of here." Hermione said. She then reached up to her ear piece, "Ron, we got the Horcrux but Harry's badly hurt."

"What happened?" Ron asked through the connection.

"Never mind that," Hermione said, "we are on our way out now. Meet us in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts."

"Got ya!" came Ron's reply over the radio.

Hermione then looked down at Harry, "I think we had better apperate in tandem." Harry nodded and let her help him up. Painfully he handed the cup to Hermione, who put it in her bag.

Both of them concentrated on the front gate of Hogwarts, but nothing happened. "There must be some sort of anti Apparation field around the building." Hermione said.

"Then you will have to carry me out of here." Harry told her.

Harry placed the arm with the uninjured hand around Hermione's neck and the two of them walked out of the room and down the steps. It was only when they were half way down that they noticed all of the Red Caps were no longer unconscious. Instead they were all waiting for them at the bottom of the steps. "Oh dear!" Hermione said as she helped Harry sit down on one of the steps.

This however did not stop the Red Caps from charging them however and Hermione shot curse and hex after spell at them, but nothing was holding them back for long. It was at that time that a giant silver spider emerged from the hallway. This sight made the entire group of Red Caps stop in their tracks, which gave Hermione the opportunity she needed. She pointed her wand at the creatures and a rope shot out wrapping all of the Red Caps up in one big group.

After the spider vanished in a silver haze, Ron ran out of the hallway and up the stairs. Taking only a glance at Harry's hand he help him up and half carried him the rest of the way. "How did you know we needed help?" Hermione asked when they had reached the hallway. She took Harry's other arm, being careful with his injured hand.

"I tried to apperate while I was still on the front steps and couldn't." Ron explained, "So I figured if I couldn't apperate, then you would not be able to either and came running. When I saw those Red Caps, I did the first spell that came to mind." Ron gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of his Patronus.

"Thanks." Harry said weakly.

When they reached finally reached the outside of the orphanage, Hermione looked around, "It's clear!" she said, and all three of them disappeared with a soft popping sound.

------

Concealed behind a large bush Mrs. Wilson watched as Harry, Ron, and Hermione disapparated. With a rye smile on her face, she headed off to a nearby alleyway and stepped up to a motorcycle that was hidden behind some trash cans. Mrs. Wilson had just picked up her helmet when she heard a soft POP. "Well, well, well," came a gruff but amused voice behind her, "what do we have here?"

"I think we have a muggle that is someplace she should not be." Came another voice, this one a bit deeper than the first but still had the same amusement that the first one had.

Mrs. Wilson turned around slowly looking at the two wizards that were standing behind her. Both of them were big and clumsy looking, wearing long black robes and masks over their faces. "You young men wouldn't hurt an old lady now would you?"

"Naw," the bigger of the two of them said, "what we will do to you won't hurt a bit." He then pulled out his wand and pointed it at her. "_Avada Keda._.." he shouted, but his incitation was interrupted when Mrs. Wilson threw her helmet at him, knocking the wand out of his hand.

The other wizard didn't have any time to react before he found Mrs. Wilson's foot coming right at his face. As it collided, there was a sickening crunch as he felt his nose break. The other wizard didn't even have time to react to this because at the same time that she planted her foot in his friends face, Mrs. Wilson had placed her fist hard in his gut.

Ignoring his obviously broken nose the second wizard pulled out his wand and pointed it at Mrs. Wilson. "That does it," he shouted as he raised the wand up high, "_Crusio_!" A jet of energy shot out of the wand at almost point blank range. But unlike usual Mrs. Wilson did not collapse onto the ground writhing in agony, instead a sliver aura surrounded her body and the curse was reflected back to its sender. Before he knew what was happening, the wizard was hit by his own curse and fell to the ground.

Seeing what this old lady had done to his comrade, the first wizard, who had recovered his wand by this time, pointed it at Mrs. Wilson. Reacting quickly Mrs. Wilson dodged the curse that he sent her way by running straight up the side of one of the walls and performed a backwards flip landing in a crouching position. It was at that time the wizard noticed there was something different about this old lady. For starters, she was no longer an old lady but a young and pretty one.

Noticing her disguise had worn off, Sam whipped off the dress she was wearing to reveal a white top and pair of black shorts. She then lunged at the still stunned wizard and belted him hard in the jaw, and followed it with a spinning roundhouse kick. He fell to the ground, obviously knocked out. It was at that time that Sam's cell phone went off, "Yeah," she said as she opened it, "they just left, and I just had to take out some trash." She listened for a few seconds, "I'll be right there, Baker out." Sam snapped her phone shut and threw back her elbow just in time to catch the second wizard, who had recovered from the curse, right in the gut. She then spun around and introduced her fist to his cheek.

As the wizards face was slammed to one side a mixture of spit, blood, and teeth flew out of it. The wizard landed hard on the ground clearly unconscious. Sam then walked over to where her helmet landed, picked it up, and walked to her motorcycle. With a roar, she sped off down the alley and onto the street.


	8. Give and Take

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 8: Give And Take**

Harry didn't remember a lot about the events that had happened after he, Ron, and Hermione had apparated in front of the gates that lead into the grounds of Hogwarts. He did remember hearing Hagrid's voice asking what had happened to him, and then being rushed up to the hospital wing in Hagrid's massive arms. Harry also remembered Professor McGonagall rushing into the hospital wing as Madam Pomfrey was placing his hand in a bowl containing essence of murtlap, and a reluctant Ron and Hermione trying to explain how Harry had injured his hand so badly.

He also remembered Mr. and Mrs. Weasley rushing into the hospital wing later that day with Ginny leading the way, and also interrogating Ron and Hermione about what had happened. In fact it was almost a week later when Harry regained full consciousness, finding an exhausted Ginny sitting in the chair next to his bed, half asleep but still holding onto his hand.

Harry held up his hand to look at it and found it had been wrapped up, and giving off a faint smell of rotting flesh. It was at that time Madam Pomfrey walked out of her office and to Harry's bed. "Ah, I am glad to see you are awake." she said to Harry as she checked his wrappings. "Professor McGonagall has been wanting to talk to you."

"How long have I been here?" Harry asked a bit hoarsely.

"A little over a week." Madam Pomfrey told him, touching his wrappings with her wand and they replaced themselves. After making sure the bandages were all secure, she headed back to her office.

Harry looked over at Ginny again, trying not to wake her up as he attempted to pull his hand from hers. Unfortunately, at that moment, the doors to the hospital wing burst open and Professor McGonagall stormed in, followed closely by Professors Flitwick, Sprout, Slughorn, and Hagrid. They were closely followed by Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Mad Eye. With all of the noise everyone was making, it was no surprise Ginny woke up and was looking around at the group that had just entered.

"Alright mate?" Ron asked.

"As good as can be expected I guess." Harry told him, shifting himself into an upright position and grabbing his glasses from the bedside table.

"You had us all worried Potter." McGonagall told him, "What happened to you?"

"We already told you Professor," Hermione began, "Harry was…"

"Attacked by a rather vicious Fire Crab." McGonagall finished for her.

Lupin, Mad Eye, Tonks, and Hagrid were all shaking their heads though, "That injury was not made by a Fire Crab missy." Mad Eye told her as his magical eye swung around to look at Harry's bandaged hand.

Lupin and Tonks, who did not have the advantage that Mad Eye had, walked over and examined the bandages around Harry's hand.

"I 'ave ta agree wit' Moody here Hermione," Hagrid said, "the injury I saw was not made by no Fire Crab I 'ave ever seen."

"Harry," Mr. Weasley began, "we are just concerned and want to help you out in any way s we can."

"Besides Potter," Professor Flitwick said, "we can possibly help you in many ways that, no offence to Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley, they can't offer you."

"They have a point there Harry," Ginny added. "Besides, I don't think Dumbledore would have wanted you to go through this journey alone. Why else would he have let you tell Ron and Hermione?"

"Ginny has a point Harry." Lupin said.

Harry looked around at all of the people, but looked away just as fast. Finally McGonagall stepped forward, "Harry, Dumbledore was a great wizard, but he also knew the importance of who he could trust with vital information."

"Exactly," Professor Sprout put in, "when the Sorcerer's Stone was put in our protection, Dumbledore turned to the head of houses, along with Hagrid and Quirrell for help with the protection, even though he was more than capable of fully protecting it himself."

"Yeah and look at what happened to Quirrell." Harry heard Ron say under his breath.

"I think the whole point of all this is Harry," Lupin, who must have heard what Ron had said, put in, "that Dumbledore trusted everyone in this room. Now if he could trust us with things that are that important, don't you think you can trust us as well?"

"I know this," Harry shot back, "but it was because he trusted Snape that he got killed. Not that I think any of you will do the same thing, but the more people that know about what we are doing, the more likely it is that Voldemort," Harry ignored the flinches that came from most of the people in the room, "will find out about it before we are finished."

There was a long silence in the room before Slughorn broke it, "I think I should mention, mainly because I am the last person you would hear saying this, but we are willing to take that risk if it means stopping You-Know-Who from destroying this world."

Harry stared at Slughorn for a moment. Though he did not know that he was secretly brewing the Horcrux removal potion for them, this sounded like the same Slughorn that had agreed to be put under the Imperious curse so nobody would find out what he was up to.

"I just can't risk any of your lives." Harry tried to argue.

"We are already risking our em, ain't we?" Hagrid put in.

"Then why not do the secret keeper charm," Ginny said, "that way if Harry tells us what is going on then none of us will be at risk of accidentally telling anyone."

Everyone appeared to think this suggestion over for a moment. Finally McGonagall pulled out her wand. "I will perform the charm," she then looked right at Harry, "assuming that is Potter here agrees to it."

Harry thought it over for a moment and nodded his head. McGonagall lifted her wand up and began to speak an incantation. "_We invoke this spell so that all may know the secret that this person knows. May none that are told this secret ever tell another soul,_" A flame of energy leapt out of McGonagall's wand and began to dance around Harry, "_may this secret be kept safe in the minds of those that already know it_." two more flames leapt out of the wand and started dancing around Ron and Hermione, "_may this secret now be kept save in the mind of our keeper, Harry Potter_." A fourth and final flame leapt out of the wand and hovered in front of Harry's face. It was then joined by the other two flames. All three of them merged into one flame and shot right at Harry's face. But they did not burn when they made contact with him. On the contrary they only felt warm, and he could feel it settling down in his head around everything Dumbledore had told and shown him. After a few moments, the sensation was gone. McGonagall lowered her wand, "It is done, and the secret is safe in Harry's mind, which means it is safe for all of us to know what he has been up to."

Harry though about whether he should tell everyone about the Horcruxes or not. Finally after a few minutes of this, hoping he was not making the wrong decision, Harry started to tell them everything. They all proved to be an excellent audience, taking in every word he let out, Ron and Hermione helping him with the story whenever he left something out.

When the story was finished, their was a mixture of expressions. McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout all wore expressions of reassignment, almost as if they had already known, or had figured out on their own that this was happening. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley just had looks of shock on their faces. Hagrid's expression was unreadable under his thick beard, though Harry thought that might have seen fear, or maybe even resentment, and maybe a touch of the resignation that the other teachers had in his expression. This could have been because of the fact that Voldemort, while he was still known as Tom Riddle, had played a major role in getting him kicked out of Hogwarts in his third year.

Lupin, Tonks, and Mad Eye, like the members of the staff, each wore expressions of resignation, almost as if they had known the outcome of what Harry was telling them even before he had finished the story. "So," Mr. Weasley finally said after a long moment of silence, "You-Know-Who divided his soul up into seven pieces and that was the reason he survived the attack on you sixteen years ago."

"That's what Dumbledore thought," Harry told them, "and it is what I believe as well."

"That was how Harry hurt his hand dad." Ron told his father, "It was one of the protections You-Know-Who put in place to protect the Horcrux we found."

"I always thought it had to have been that," Lupin said, "especially after the story Sirius had gotten from Harry the night that Voldemort returned."

"How many more of those things are out there then?" Tonks asked.

"Dumbledore thought Voldemort created six of them." Harry explained, though he could not help but feel a little foolish since he had only just told them all this moments earlier. "The first one was destroyed by me, though I didn't know about it at time. It was the diary Lucius Malfoy had given Ginny just before she started at Hogwarts."

"You mean the one that almost killed both of us?" Ginny asked in horror.

Harry nodded, "It was when I told him about the diary that Dumbledore began to suspect Voldemort had indeed created at least one Horcrux."

"What about the others?" Mad Eye asked.

"Dumbledore found the second Horcrux, which was placed inside a ring that had belonged to Salazar Slytherin, just after the incident at the Ministry. Then when we left the school the night he was killed we thought we had found another one, but it turned out to be a fake, which was planted by another wizard that had figured it out as well." Harry explained.

"But we got that one when we went to Diagon Alley just after we got home." Ron added.

"It was in a package that the goblins of Gringotts were instructed to give to me." Harry explained

"And what did You-Know-Who use for that one?" Flitwick asked.

"A locket that had belonged to his mother and had also once been owned by Slytherin." Harry answered.

"And what about the one that you recovered the other day?" Tonks asked.

In response to this Hermione walked over to where Tonks and Lupin were standing and pulled out a duffle bag from under the bed. From the bag, she pulled out the Horcrux they had recovered. When Hermione held the cup up, Professor Sprout let out a gasp of shock, "Is that what I think it is?" She asked.

"It once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff." Hermione confirmed.

"Dumbledore thought Voldemort sought out items that had once belonged to the founders of Hogwarts." Harry explained, "That was why he had you give me Gryffindore's sword." He told McGonagall.

"But what about anything that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw?" Flitwick asked.

"We don't know what other item You-Know-Who has used for a Horcrux." Ron told them.

"We only know there is at least one more we have to find," Hermione added, "The last two will be with Voldemort."

"The last two?" Mrs. Weasley asked in horror.

Harry saw both Lupin and Mad Eye were nodding their heads, "That makes sense," Mad Eye said, "Voldemort himself would be one of them, but I can't for the life of me guess what the other would be."

"His snake, Nagini." Harry told them.

"You mean the one that attacked me at the Ministry while I was guarding the Prophesy?" Mr. Weasley asked, and Harry nodded.

Before anyone could asked another question, McGonagall spoke up, "As much as we want to learn more about this, I think we need to take care of this particular Horcrux," she indicated the cup that Hermione was still holding, "and make sure the one inside of the locket has indeed been destroyed."

"I'll go and get it." Ron said and rushed out of the room.

McGonagall then turned to Slughorn, "Horace is the potion ready to purge this Horcrux out of the cup?"

Slughorn gave her a strange look, "Professor if I may," Hermione said, "Pineapple Crystals."

The moment that Hermione said this, the strange look that Slughorn was giving McGonagall disappeared, "Not yet Minerva, but it should be ready soon."

"In the mean time," Flitwick put in, "I will begin to search for ways to test the items in order to make sure the Horcrux has indeed been destroyed."

"We'll give you a hand on that Flitwick." Lupin volunteered, and he, Tonks, Hagrid, and Mad Eye followed Flitwick out of the Hospital Wing.

When the doors were closed behind them, McGonagall turned back to Harry's bed, "You get some rest Potter. After all, you will need to be ready for anything when you go after that last Horcrux."

"You mean you are still going to let them attempt to get it?" Mrs. Weasley asked in horror.

"I know your concern Molly," McGonagall told her, "but Dumbledore trusted that Potter, along with Granger and your son, were more than capable of stopping You-Know-Who, or else he would never have told them about it in the first place."

Mr. Weasley walked up and placed his hands on his wife's shoulders, "And let's not forget they have a knack for getting themselves into and then back out of trouble."

"But they're just children Arthur." Mrs. Weasley said in a pleading voice.

Mr. Weasley looked back at Harry, Hermione, and Ginny, "No Molly, they are adults now and are more than capable of making their own decisions."

Mrs. Weasley looked back at her husband then at the bed for a long moment, finally she said, "I guess you are right, I just can't help but to think of them as they used to be."

"If it's any consolation to you Molly," McGonagall began, "I feel the same way you do, but if my time here at Hogwarts has taught me anything, there comes a time when you must let the young become adults." She looked over at the bed again, "Even if it means letting them do what they have to in order to make their mark in the world." McGonagall gave Harry, Hermione, and Ginny a final look and walked out of the Hospital Wing. She was soon followed by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

----------

Harry spent another two weeks in the Hospital Wing before he was finally allowed to return home. He was allowed to leave though when Hermione and Slughorn placed the cup into the Horcrux Removing Potion. He was also kept apprised by Ginny about the tests that Flitwick and Sprout were performing on the Locket. Harry was happy to hear they could find not trace of the Horcrux in the locket.

Though he had once said he never wished to return to Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry was extremely glad when he stepped out of the fireplace (they had traveled by Floo Powder) and looked around to see a welcome home banner hanging up in the sitting room. He also received a bit of a surprise when he found another person had moved into the house, John Warrens.

"John is here to help train you to fight Voldemort Harry." Mad Eye had told him when asked why John was there.

"Why does Harry need to learn how to fight Voldemort?" Ginny asked.

Harry took a deep breath, "Because my wand and Voldemort's wand are both powered by phoenix feathers, in fact they are both from the same phoenix."

"Exactly," Mad Eye said, "and when you go up against Voldemort next time, he will know better than to try and use his wand against you."

Ginny still looked confused, "But why is that important?"

"Remember in that article the Quibbler published after my interview?" Harry asked, and Ginny nodded. "Do you remember reading how our wands connected when we tried to use them against each other?" Ginny nodded again.

"It's called the reverse spell effect, or Priori Incantatem." John put in. "When two wands that share a core from the same magical animal are forced to fight each other, then one of the wands will be forced to begin emitting echoes of all of the spells it had last done."

"You mean like what Hermione told me they did to your wand after the Dark Mark was conjured up at the Quidditch World Cup three years ago?" Ginny asked, and Harry nodded.

"Only in this case, it is much bigger, and far more powerful." Harry explained.

Both Mad Eye and John nodded, "That is why I have been asked to help teach you how to fight Voldemort without using a wand Harry." John told him.

"Because Voldemort will not want for the same thing to happen the next time he fights Harry." Ginny said, finally catching onto what they were talking about. But a confused expression once again appeared on her face, "But then how will Harry be able to fight and defeat Voldemort without his wand?"

"Harry will learn how to fight with these." John said as he walked over to the sofa and pulled out a bag that had been placed out of sight. He laid it on the floor and opened it. Inside were two sets of swords. One set was obviously made out of wood and was meant for learning and practicing. The other set were the real thing, made out of metal and both edges looking very sharp.

"When do we begin then?" He asked John.

"Tomorrow morning." John told him.

Over the next several days, whenever he was not training with John, Harry continued to work with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny on where the last Horcrux would be. They did have several clues as to where it might be hidden. One place was the graveyard Harry and Cedric Diggory were transported to by the Portkey at the end of the Tri Wizard Tournament. Another suggestion was the caves that he hid in when he was in hiding.

"I don't think it is any of those places." Ginny said while they were discussing possible locations for it, "After all, the places where the other Horcruxes were hidden were places He either visited when he was younger or places that had a particular draw to him."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, "Actually I think Ginny is right," Hermione finally said, "let's think about this…the Cup was in the orphanage that Voldemort grew up in, the Locket was in a cave that he visited before he learned he was a wizard, and the Ring was in the house that his mother's family…." Hermione trailed off as she said this, and then slapped herself hard in the forehead, "How could I have been so stupid?" she asked herself.

Not giving Ron the opportunity to say something, Harry asked, "What do you mean?"

"There is one other place that we have not thought of yet," Hermione said, "the house where he killed his father and grandparents."

Harry thought about this, and it did make a great deal of sense to him. With the exception of the diary, Voldemort had hidden his Horcruxes in places that had great meaning to him in his youth. Or at the very least places, he had visited during that time period. In fact, the idea made more sense the more he thought about it. That was where Voldemort had committed his first three cold blooded murders, not to mention erased any link between himself and the Riddle family.

"Great," Ron said, "now all we have to do is go there and retrieve it." He looked pointedly at Harry, "So where is it Harry?"

With these words, just as quickly as his spirits raised, they lowered again, "I can't remember." Harry said as if each word was a knife twisting in his gut.

"Then there has to be a way to find out." Ginny said.

They all thought about it for a moment, finally Hermione spoke up, "Harry didn't you say that a wizard from the ministry visited the Gaunt house just before Voldemort's mother ran off with Tom Riddle Sr.?"

Harry thought about this for a moment, "Yeah, but I can't remember what his name is either."

"That's ok Harry," Hermione said, "I know a way we can find out."

----------

Harry stepped out of the alleyway across from an old beat up phone booth. "It's clear." He said and Ginny stepped out into the light as well.

"Are you sure you want to do this Harry?" She asked as they crossed the street together.

"No, but then again we don't really have much of a choice in the matter if we want to find were Voldemort hid that Horcrux, now do we?" Harry said as he opened the door to the phone booth.

Together they stepped into it, and picking up the receiver Harry typed in the number 62442. Immediately a cool female voice came out of nowhere, "_Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and your business_."

"Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley, here to see the Minister of Magic." Harry said in a clear voice.

Two nametags instantly slid out of the change slot, as the phone booth began to move down. "_Thank you! Please be prepared for a full search as well as surrendering your wands for inspection_."

Ginny handed Harry his name tag which read, '**Harry Potter: Meeting with the Minister of Magic**', and clipped it onto his jacket.

When the phone booth came to a complete stop, Harry and Ginny stepped out and were immediately stopped by half a dozen Aurors each holding a Secrecy Sensor which they began moving up and down both of them. "They're clean!" one of them said after a few minutes and while the rest of the Aurors dispersed to take care of other matters she led them over to the security desk were Eric sat reading the _Dailey Prophet_. He took their wands and weighed them.

When they had finished, the Auror led them to the lift, and after making sure they were well on there way, she gave them a nod and went off in the direction the others had gone. "Do you know what floor the Scrimgeour would be on?" Harry asked Ginny.

Before she could answer though the cool female voice said "_The office for Rufus Scrimgeour is on the top floor of the Ministry of Magic along with the office of the Senior Under Secretary, and the Lea son to the Muggle Prime Minister_."

"Then I guess we are headed to the top floor." Harry said as he pushed the button for the top floor. The lift made a stop on just about every floor of the Ministry of Magic, each time a paper airplane would soar into the lift and fly around over their heads until it reached the proper floor and then go zooming off again.

Finally the female voice told them, "_Top floor offices of the Minister of Magic, Senior Under Secretary to the Minister, and Lea son Office to the Muggle Prime Minister_!"

Harry and Ginny stepped out of the lift, followed by several paper airplanes, and walked down a long hallway until they came up to a door marked Minister of Magic. "I have to ask again if you are sure you want to do this Harry?"

Giving her a reassuring smile, Harry opened the door and stepped into the office. There, sitting behind a desk filled to the brim with papers was Percy Weasley. Looked up from his work, Percy scowled at Harry and Ginny as they walked in.

"What do you want?" he asked in a not so cordial manner.

"We are here to see the Minister, Percy." Ginny told him in an equal tone.

"I am sorry, but unless you have an appointment, the Minister will not be able to see you right now, he is in a very important meeting with Cornelius Fudge and cannot be disturbed."

"Oh," Harry told Percy, "I think he will make the time to see me that is if you will just let him know I am out here."

Percy continued to scowl at Harry and Ginny for a moment or two then shrugged. "Just a moment." He told them as he got out of his seat and walked into the Ministers office. Seconds later, he stepped back out, "As I told you, he is not able to see you at this time. If you will be so kind as to….What the hell are you doing?" Percy shouted because Harry had pushed in out of the way and entered the Ministers office.

Indeed the Minister was with Fudge, which just made this all the better as far as Harry was concerned. "Minister we need to talk." Harry said as Percy stepped up behind him and grabbed his arm.

Scrimgeour and Fudge just looked at Harry, who was attempting to shake Percy off. "Its ok Weasley let him go." Scrimgeour finally said after a moment of watching the struggle. Percy let go of Harry and with a slight bow stepped out of the room as Ginny pushed her way inside.

"I had better get going Rufus," Fudge said, "it looks like Potter has something important on his mind."

"No stay Fudge," Harry said never taking is eyes off the Minister, "this won't take long."

"So what can I do for you Harry?" Scrimgeour asked as he leaned back in his seat.

Harry cleared his throat, "I need access to records from round sixty years ago, particularly the ones having to do with wizards charged with attacking muggles."

"And what do you need these records for?" Scrimgeour asked with a touch of curiosity in his voice.

Harry walked over the Scrimgeour's desk and leaned over on it resting his knuckles on its surface, "That is none of your concern Minister, but I am also not asking for you to hand over the records either."

"Oh!" Scrimgeour said his curiosity obviously getting the better of him, "And what are you going to offer in exchange for these records?"

"I am prepared to make a statement to the Magical community that the Ministry of Magic has begun to take the right steps towards stopping Lord Voldemort and his supporters." Harry saw Scrimgeour's face light up at this, but he was also not finished yet, "But I will not go any further than that."

"You can't be serious," Fudge protested, "not more than a month ago, you flat out refused to even think about helping in this way, now you are offering to do it, what is so important about these records?"

"That is none of your business Mr. Fudge." Ginny said as she stepped up next to Harry, "So how about it Minister, do we have a deal?"

Scrimgeour looked from Harry to Ginny and back again, "let me think about it and I will get back with you in a few days."

Harry shook his head, "It doesn't work like that Minister, if we walk out that door without an answer, then the deal is off."

"That's blackmail!" Fudge shouted.

"Really," Ginny said to him, "I am surprised you even know the meaning of the word after you tried to cover up the truth that Voldemort was back for over a year, not to mention sent Dolores Umbridge to Hogwarts to carry out your dirty work for you."

Fudge was starting to turn purple in the face, and looked as if he was about to say something in response to Ginny's accusations when Scrimgeour shouted, "Enough! This is my office and I will not have any outbursts at all." He then turned back to Harry, "As for you Mr. Potter, your offer is accepted. I will have the records waiting for you in the main pavilion."

Harry nodded, "Once I have what I am looking for, I will be in touch with you in order to fulfill my end of the bargain." He then turned to face Ginny, "Lets get out of here."

----------

He walked though the streets of muggle London as fast and carefully as he could without drawing attention to himself. When he finally reached his destination, he drew out his wand and pointed it at the wall. Instantly a doorway appeared, and he stepped though. The door disappeared behind him.

Continuing his brisk pace, Severus Snape pulled off his traveling cloak, letting it fall to the floor. He then walked up to the wizard that stood guard in front of a door. After a few moments, the wizard moved out of the way and Snape entered the room.

"You are late my faithful servant." Voldemort said from his throne like chair.

"My apologies Master," Snape said as he lowered himself down to one knee, "I was unavoidably delayed."

Voldemort nodded, and gestured to Snape that he could rise. He then stood up from his chair and indicated for Snape to follow. "What news do you have of Crabbe and Goyle?"

"They still cannot give the identity of their attacker, my lord." Snape told him, "In fact, they seem to be at odds as to what she even looked like."

"Go on." Voldemort said.

"One of them claimed she was an old woman, and the other claimed she was a young woman who was dressed up like an old woman." Snape said.

"And what about how she defeated them?"

"Crabbe said he attempted to use the Crusio Curse on her, but it was somehow reflected right back at him."

"And Goyle saw this as well?" Voldemort asked, stopping in front of a window, which showed the London nightline.

"Yes my lord." Snape confirmed. "Crabbe was then knocked out by his curse and Goyle said she did not use any other magic from that point on."

"And what do you surmise from all of this?" Voldemort asked Snape.

"They were either confunded by a very powerful wizard, or actually encountered this woman."

Voldemort looked back at Snape, who immediately dropped to one knee again, "I don't think they were confunded my friend," he said as he began to make his way back to his chair, "and I do think they encountered this woman." Voldemort sat back down in his chair and slowly Snape stood back up and made his way back to the chair as well.

"It would seem the Silver Dragons have finally decided to join our little war." Voldemort said with a touch of amusement in his voice.

"The Silver Dragons?" Snape asked

"A group of meddlers I have had the misfortune of encountering before. Obviously they were brought into service when you killed Dumbledore."

Snape appeared to think about this for a moment, "Are they that dangerous my lord?"

Voldemort stared at Snape, "They are very dangerous. They are protected by a magic so ancient that none except for them remember how to use it. They are trained in a very powerful form of muggle self defense that makes them more than a match for almost any wizard they come across." Voldemort appeared to think about this for a moment, "I want you to accelerate our plans."

"It shall be done my lord." Snape said, and without another word he swept out of the room. When he was once again on the muggle streets, he stopped near a shadow.

"Does he suspect anything yet?" asked a voice from the shadows.

"No he doesn't, but the appearance of the Silver Dragons seems to have him worried. He has ordered that the operation I have been supervising be accelerated. I may only be able to stall another month at the most." Snape told the shadow.

"Then let us hope all goes according to plan before you have to make your move." The voice said again. There was then a soft pop, and Snape himself moved into the shadows to disapparate.

**Authors Note:** My apologies that I have not been updating this story as much as some of you would like me to. I have had some other things come up and have not had as much time to write as I would like to have. I would like to thank everyone that is reading and reviewing this story, I like getting input back. I would especially like to take the time to thank one reader in particular, SweetStories11, who has been my biggest fan in this endeavor, thank you for all of the reviews that you have given to me and my story. I hope to have the next chapter up soon, in the meantime keep on reading, and please, please, please, **REVIEW THIS STORY**.


	9. A Ray of Hope

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 9: A Ray of Hope**

True to his word, Scrimgeour had all of the documents waiting for Harry and Ginny when they got out of the lift. Using a shrinking charm, they took all of the records back to Grimmauld Place where they, along with Ron and Hermione began to go through them.

It only took them the better part of the day to go through all the records, and less time than that before they realized the reports they were looking for were not there. "I can't believe this," Ron complained, tossing one of the reports off to the side, "I would have thought we would have found something."

"I know," Hermione agreed, placing the parchment she was reading onto a neat pile, "I really thought this would work."

"It's not your fault Hermione," Harry said, throwing his parchment piece on top of Ron's, "it was a good idea in essence."

"More than likely," Ginny informed them as she continued to read her piece of parchment, "Voldemort had one of his spies in the Ministry get rid of the records just in case somebody tried this very trick."

Harry looked at both Ron and Hermione. Now that he thought about it, what Ginny had just said made a great deal of sense. If Voldemort was afraid somebody like Dumbledore were to figure out his secret, then it would only make sense to destroy any official records of possible locations.

"How goes the search for the Horcrux?" Came a voice from the doorway.

Everyone looked up and saw Lupin standing there. He walked over to the table, eyeing the pieces of parchment scattered all over it. Looking up, he saw the disgruntled looks on everyone's face. "I take it not very well." He said.

"We just figured out this was a wild Nobtail search." Ron said.

"What Ron means," Hermione put in, "is we just thought about the fact that Voldemort might have had one of his spies at the Ministry tamper with these records in case somebody tried to do what we were doing."

"I see." Lupin said, taking a seat at the head of the table. Appearing to consider the situation for a moment, "It seems to me like you have hit a dead end." Then he looked at all four of them in turn, "Would I be out of place to make a suggestion at this time?" When nobody answered, Lupin continued, "It seems to me like you might have the answer sitting right in front of you and don't even know it."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.

"What I mean is Harry here might very well know where this place is." Lupin said, looking right at Harry.

"But I don't remember the name of the town." Harry immediately protested, throwing his hands up in the air. "Otherwise we would have gone there to get the Horcrux already." Lupin didn't say anything, just giving Harry a warm smile.

---------

A few hours later, they were gathered around the kitchen table, starring into a stone basin, which was lined with rune symbols. Dumbledore's Pensive sat there empty of any type of silvery substance Harry had always seen in it before.

"So this is the Pensive you've been telling us about Harry." Ron muttered as he examined it, "I was expecting something more impressive."

"You can't always judge something by its looks Ron." Lupin told them.

Harry nodded, raising his eyebrows, "Trust me, when we go inside it, you won't be saying that." He then looked at Hermione, "I have been wondering what the symbols around it meant, can you translate them?"

Hermione took a closer look at the rune symbols. "It just says this is a Pensive, and it can be used to bring back memories that have long since been forgotten."

"Like the dream Harry had just before the Quidditch World Cup." Ginny commented.

"Exactly," Lupin told them, "that dream might have some clue in it about where this Horcrux could be hidden." Lupin looked around at them, "I think we are ready to go." He then looked right at Harry, "Are you sure you want to do this Harry? I won't lie to you. It is difficult enough to extract a good memory, but a memory of a dream, even one as vivid as you seemed to think it was is extremely hard. You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

Harry shook his head, "That's just the thing. I don't have a choice in the matter. We are beginning to run out of options and the longer we wait the more powerful Voldemort becomes."

"Very well then," Lupin said, "now concentrate hard on the memory you wish to extract." While Lupin told him this, Harry closed his eyes and looked deep down into his thoughts, trying to lock onto the memory of the dream he had three years earlier. "Once you have it," Lupin continued, "move it to the surface of your mind, then touch the tip of your wand to your temple, and slowly pull it away."

Harry did as he was told. Once he had the remnants of the dream, he moved them to the surface of his mind, and slowly touched the tip of his wand to his temple. Almost as if it were a fish biting a baited hook, the memory latched onto his wand tip, and he began to slowly pull it away from his temple. As Harry did this, the memory began to fade almost out of existence.

When he was sure the memory was out of his head, Harry opened his eyes and saw there was a long silvery string hanging off of the tip of his wand. Hermione grabbed the bottle and held it up for Harry to put the memory in. Once in the bottle, it began to coil up and then expand until it looked something like a thick silvery mist.

Hermione then moved it over to the basin and dumped the contents in it. "Ok," she said as she turned back to face Harry and Lupin, "that should do it."

"Are you sure you know what to do in order to get back out?" Lupin asked. Hermione nodded, "Then good luck." He told them.

Harry walked over to the table and like he had done so many times before lowered his face into the substance. As soon as the tip of his nose touched the substance, Harry had the sensation of falling, but as usual, he landed lightly. Looking around, he saw he was in a small kitchen. Hearing a soft footfall behind him, he saw Hermione had joined him. Not all that long after Ron appeared next to her.

Before any of them could say a word though, an old man walked into the room, carrying a hot water bottle and walking with a bit of a limp. With sudden recognition, Harry realized he had seen the old man before. "I recognize him." Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione.

"Where?" Hermione inquired.

"He was one of the ghostly figures that came out of Voldemort's wand when we dueled the night he returned." Harry told them as the old man began to fill a teapot he had picked up off an old stove.

"What the hell…damn those kids." The old man shouted and dropping his hot water bottle bolted out of the room.

Harry and Ron moved over to the window the old man had just been looking out of. Across what looked like a well kept lawn and garden, there stood an old house that looked as if it had seen better days. Harry then saw what had gotten the old mans attention, a light that was defiantly a fire could be seen though one of the windows. "That must be the Riddle House." Ron stated as he stared at the old building.

"Well the newspaper won't help out," Hermione said from a small table in the corner of the kitchen, "it's completely blank."

This didn't surprise Harry all that much, since more than likely the paper was not in his dream, which meant it could not be read. He didn't have time to voice this opinion before the old man was back in the kitchen, this time fully dressed. "This time I will make sure those kids parents pay for any damages they caused to the house." He said, grabbing a walking stick and an old rusty key.

The three of them followed the old man up to the house where he first checked the front door, more than likely to see if it had been forced open, then went around to the back where he used the key to open the door. Not bothering to close it again, the old man proceeded to make his way though a dimly lit kitchen. Harry had the suspicion the old man had done this more than enough times to know his way around the place.

They continued to follow him as he began to climb up a stairway. They turned right and stopped at a doorway that obviously led into the room where the fire was lit. "There is a little more in the bottle, My Lord, if you are still hungry." Came an all too familiar voice from inside the room.

"That's Wormtail." Harry stated.

"Then does that mean You-Know-Who is with him?" Ron asked.

But the answer to that question came only seconds later when a high pitched voice replied, "Later, move me closer to the fire, Wormtail." Harry looked over at the old man and saw he was inching forward in order to hear all the better. "Were is Nagini at?" Voldemort asked.

"I -- I don't know, My Lord," Wormtail said nervously. "She set out to explore the house, I think..."

"You will milk her before we retire, Wormtail," Voldemort said. "I will need feeding in the night. The journey has tired me greatly."

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, "I wish that we could see what was going on in there." He told them.

"At least we can still hear there conversation." Hermione said.

Harry thought about it, and nodded. He then went to the task of listening to the conversation that Wormtail and Voldemort were having. He could also clearly see that the old man was trying to clean out his ears. Obviously he had overheard something he thought he must have misheard.

"Because, fool, at this very moment wizards are pouring into the country from all over the world, and every meddler from the Ministry of Magic will be on duty, on the watch for signs of unusual activity, checking and double-checking identities. They will be obsessed with security, lest the Muggles notice anything. So we wait." Voldemort told Wormtail angrily.

The old man stopped trying to clean out his ears at this point. Harry assumed he figured out he was not mishearing anything at all.

"Your Lordship is still determined, then?" Wormtail said quietly.

"Certainly I am determined, Wormtail." There was a note of menace in Voldemort's voice now.

"It could be done without Harry Potter, My Lord." Wormtail said nervously.

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione again, and they all knew what Wormtail was referring to.

"Without Harry Potter?" breathed Voldemort softly. "I see..."

"My Lord, I do not say this out of concern for the boy!" Said Wormtail, his voice rising squeakily. "The boy is nothing to me, nothing at all! It is merely that if we were to use another witch or wizard, any wizard, the thing could be done so much more quickly! If you allowed me to leave you for a short while, you know that I can disguise myself most effectively, I could be back here in as little as two days with a suitable person."

"I could use another wizard," said Voldemort softly, "that is true..."

"My Lord, it makes sense," said Wormtail, sounding thoroughly relieved now. "Laying hands on Harry Potter would be so difficult, he is so well protected."

"And so you volunteer to go and fetch me a substitute? I wonder...perhaps the task of nursing me has become wearisome for you, Wormtail? Could this suggestion of abandoning the plan be nothing more than an attempt to desert me?"

"My Lord! I, I have no wish to leave you, none at all…"

"Do not lie to me!" Hissed Voldemort. "I can always tell, Wormtail! You are regretting that you ever returned to me. I revolt you. I see you flinch when you look at me, feel you shudder when you touch me..."

"No! My devotion to Your Lordship…"

"Your devotion is nothing more than cowardice. You would not be here if you had anywhere else to go. How am I to survive without you, when I need feeding every few hours? Who is to milk Nagini?"

"But you seem so much stronger, My Lord…"

"Liar," breathed Voldemort. "I am no stronger, and a few days alone would be enough to rob me of the little health I have regained under your clumsy care. Silence!"

There was a few seconds of silence where Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other again. During this silence, Harry remembered what Dumbledore had told him the night that Wormtail had escaped, 'When one wizard saves another ones life that wizard is indebted to the other.' It sounded to Harry that Wormtail was indeed trying to repay him for saving his life.

"I have my reasons for using the boy, as I have already explained to you, and I will use no other. I have waited thirteen years. A few more months will make no difference. As for the protection surrounding the boy, I believe my plan will be effective. All that is needed is a little courage from you, Wormtail, courage you will find, unless you wish to feel the full extent of Lord Voldemort's wrath."

"My Lord, I must speak!" Said Wormtail, panic in his voice now. "All through our journey, I have gone over the plan in my head, My Lord, Bertha Jorkin's disappearance will not go unnoticed for long, and if we proceed, if I murder…"

"If?" Whispered Voldemort. "If? If you follow the plan, Wormtail, the Ministry need never know that anyone else has died. You will do it quietly and without fuss; I only wish that I could do it myself, but in my present condition...Come, Wormtail, one more death and our path to Harry Potter is clear. I am not asking you to do it alone. By that time, my faithful servant will have rejoined us."

"He must be talking about Barty Crouch." Ron said.

Harry nodded, "From what I can remember from Dumbledore's interrogation of him, Barty Crouch rejoined Voldemort not to long after this."

"Shhh..." Hermione told them, "I'm trying to hear what they are saying."

"I found you," said Wormtail, and there was definitely a sulky edge to his voice now. "I was the one who found you. I brought you Bertha Jorkins."

"That is true," Voldemort said in an amused voice. "A stroke of brilliance I would not have thought possible from you, Wormtail, though, if truth be told, you were not aware how useful she would be when you caught her, were you?"

"I, I thought she might be useful, My Lord…"

"Liar," said Voldemort, the cruel amusement more pronounced than ever. "However, I do not deny that her information was invaluable. Without it, I could never have formed our plan, and for that, you will have your reward, Wormtail. I will allow you to perform an essential task for me, one that many of my followers would give their right hands to perform..."

"Yeah," Harry said, unable to help himself, "he did give his right hand, literally." Hermione shot him a look, and Harry stopped himself from saying anything else.

"R-really, My Lord? What?" Wormtail sounded terrified again.

"Ah, Wormtail, you don't want me to spoil the surprise? Your part will come at the very end...but I promise you, you will have the honor of being just as useful as Bertha Jorkins."

"You...you..." Wormtail's voice suddenly sounded hoarse, as though his mouth had gone very dry. "You...are going...to kill me too?"

"Wormtail, Wormtail," said Voldemort silkily, "why would I kill you? I killed Bertha because I had to. She was fit for nothing after my questioning, quite useless. In any case, awkward questions would have been asked if she had gone back to the Ministry with the news that she had met you on her holidays. Wizards who are supposed to be dead would do well not to run into Ministry of Magic witches at wayside inns..."

Wormtail told Voldemort something so quietly that none of them could hear it, but whatever he did say it made Voldemort laugh a cold merciless laugh.

"We could have modified her memory? But Memory Charms can be broken by a powerful wizard, as I proved when I questioned her. It would be an insult to her memory not to use the information I extracted from her, Wormtail."

Harry looked over at the old man, and saw he was now gripping his walking stick. He wondered what was going through his mind right now. Should he call the police, but would the police be able to do anything if these people were who, not to mention what, they appeared to be, and would they even believe him. Whatever the old man was thinking, Harry knew he wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but here right now.

"One more murder...my faithful servant at Hogwarts...Harry Potter is as good as mine, Wormtail. It is decided. There will be no more argument. But quiet...I think I hear Nagini..."

Voldemort started to spit and hiss. Ron and Hermione immediately looked at Harry, and for good reason, Voldemort was talking in Parcel Tong.

"What's he saying Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry listened to Voldemort, "He is calling Nagini to him." He told them.

"Listen!" Ron said. They all stained their ears, and heard the unmistakable sound of something approaching them. Harry once again looked at the old man, and saw he was petrified with fear at the sight of the gigantic snake that was coming right at him. Nagini came level with the old man and then passed right by him.

Harry could see the sweat on the old mans forehead and the hand, which was gripping the walking stick, was not trembling. But he did not dwell on this for very long, for Voldemort had begun to hiss and spit again, as he talked to Nagini. Once again, Harry translated for Ron and Hermione, "Nagini is telling Voldemort about the old man."

"How terrible," Hermione said as she watched the old man, "and it appears the sight of Nagini was so terrifying he can't even move."

"Nagini has interesting news, Wormtail," Voldemort finally said.

"In-indeed, My Lord?" Said Wormtail.

"Indeed, yes," said Voldemort, "According to Nagini, there is an old Muggle standing right outside this room, listening to every word we say."

Harry, Ron, ad Hermione watched as the door flew open and Wormtail stood there staring at the old man. Harry almost thought he saw pity in his eyes.

"Invite him inside, Wormtail. Where are your manners?"

Harry could now see properly into the room for the first time now that the door was open. There was an old chair sitting in front of a fire. Obviously this was where Voldemort was sitting. Nagini on the other hand was curled up on an old rotting hearth rug, much like a dog would do.

Wormtail beckoned the old man into the room. Though still deeply shaken, Harry could see he was determined not to show any fear to this person, and taking a firmer grip on his walking stick, the old man limped over the threshold, Harry, Ron, and Hermione right behind him. They then took up places where they could watch everything that was happening.

The fire was the only source of light in the room, it cast long, spidery shadows upon the walls. The old man stared at the back of the armchair, but it was obvious he could not see Voldemort in it.

"You heard everything, Muggle?" Voldemort said in that cold voice.

"What's that you're calling me?" Said the old man defiantly, although Harry did notice he seemed a lot braver now that he was in the room. He could defiantly relate to that feeling.

"I am calling you a Muggle," said Voldemort coolly. "It means you are not a wizard."

"I don't know what you mean by wizard," said the old man, his voice growing steadier. "All I know is I've heard enough to interest the police tonight, I have. You've done murder and you're planning more! And I'll tell you this too, my wife knows I'm up here, and if I don't come back…"

"You have no wife," said Voldemort, very quietly. Harry had to admit that normally that bluff would have worked, but not now. "Nobody knows you are here. You told nobody that you were coming. Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Muggle, for he knows...he always knows..."

"Is that right?" Said the old man roughly. "Lord, is it? Well, I don't think much of your manners, My Lord. Turn 'round and face me like a man, why don't you?"

"But I am not a man, Muggle," said Voldemort, barely audible now over the crackling of the flames. "I am much, much more than a man. However...why not? I will face you...Wormtail, come turn my chair around."

Wormtail gave a whimper.

"You heard me, Wormtail."

Slowly, Wormtail turned the chair around to face the old man. When it was turned around fully, the old man screamed in fear when he saw Voldemort. Harry could also hear gasp from both Ron and Hermione when they got their first real look at Voldemort as he was at that time. While the old man screamed, Voldemort pulled out his wand and pointed it at him. Harry knew what was going to happen even before Voldemort spoke the words that were the last thing many a wizard heard, "_Avada Kedavera_!" There was a flash of green light, a rushing sound, and then they were standing in the kitchen of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place once again

"Did you find out anything?" Ginny asked.

"Afraid not!" Hermione said as she sat down at the table.

"We were able to see everything that happened to that old muggle," Ron said, "but it didn't give us any clues as to where we were at."

"I even looked at a paper that was lying around, and it was completely blank." Hermione told them, "Which I guess makes sense in a way."

They all looked at Harry, who after a moment shrugged, "It was a good idea, it just didn't work out all that well." Harry then headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Ginny asked.

"To send Hedwig to Scrimgeour. I have to hold up my end of our bargain."

"But we didn't learn the location of the Horcrux mate." Ron protested.

Harry shook his head, "That was not Scrimgeour's fault," he told them, "I made a deal with him, and I intend to live up to my end of it."

"But Harry," Ginny spoke up, "you told him you would only hold up to your end of the bargain if you found what you were looking for."

"That is why Harry has to do this." Lupin said, "If the Minister and the rest of the Ministry of Magic thinks Harry has found what he was looking for, then they will be in more of a position to promise that this war will end. Then it will help to ease some of the tension Voldemort's return as brought on."

"And," Hermione added, "it may just allow them to stop imprisoning innocent people like they did to Sirius."

"It's all about hope." Lupin told them, "And just a little hope can be more powerful than any spell or jinx."

"Exactly," Harry told them, "the more I think about it the more I understand exactly what Scrimgeour wanted, even if he didn't understand it completely himself. He wanted me to give a ray of hope to the magical community. This is why I have to do this even if we didn't find what we were looking for. I still have an obligation to try and help if I can."

Ginny nodded that she understood what was being said, but Ron still had a bit of a confused look on his face. "I don't plan on making it sound like the Ministry of Magic has done nothing but good," Harry explained, more for Ron's benefit than any one else's, "but I will acknowledge they have taken steps in the right direction."

Ron was about to say something, but at that time the kitchen door opened and John Warrens stepped inside, "Harry it is time for your lesson." He told them.

"I had best be going anyway," Lupin said as he walked over to the table and poured the memories from the Pensive back into the glass bottle, "I told Minerva I would return this when we were finished with it." He put the Pensive in a traveling bag, "besides I also told Flitwick I would help him to finish his tests on both the cup and the locket." Lupin walked to the center of the room and with a soft POP disapparated from the room.

Harry followed John into the sitting room, which as always had been cleared of almost all of the furniture, and picked up one of the wooden practice swords, which he had learned during their first lesson were called bow kens. "Are you ready Harry?" John asked as he held his bow ken at the ready.

Harry nodded, and John rushed in with a stab to the chest. Harry defected his stab and brought his bow ken around to in a slashing move right at John's neck. John ducked under it and continued his fall into a sweep kick that knocked Harry flat on the floor, which knocked the air out of him. Before he knew what was happening, Harry found the tip of John's bow ken pointed right at him. He then pulled it away and offered his hand to help Harry up. "Again!" he said.

This continued for a little over hour, until they once again stood facing each other. "What are you thinking about Harry?" John asked.

"I don't know," Harry told him, "how to beat you perhaps."

John smiled at him, "There is your problem."

"What do you mean?"

"You are so concerned about beating me that you are not letting yourself win." When Harry gave him a confused look, John explained, "Your focus is entirely devoted to defeating me and not to the task of defending yourself. This is how I am able to get inside your defenses." Harry thought about it, and decided it did make some sense. "Have you heard of the Samurai Harry?" John asked.

Harry nodded, "It's a style of the martial arts."

"Very good," John told him, "but only partially correct. The Samurai were a group of warriors that used to not only protect Japan, but rule it as well, and did so for several hundred years. They were also the most revered swordsmen ever. Many forms of swordsmanship were based on their style."

"Ok," Harry said, "but what does this have to do with me defeating Voldemort?"

"The Samurai," John continued as if he was not interrupted, "were able to clear their minds of any thought and only focus on what they were doing. They could be in the thick of a battle, and still every warrior would be able to focus on their own opponent. That is what I am telling you to do Harry, clear your mind, and don't focus on how to defeat me, but how to defend yourself against me. Do you understand?"

Harry thought about it for a moment, and realized what John had told him made a lot of sense. He didn't have to defeat Voldemort right away, he just had to defend himself long enough for Voldemort to make a mistake. Then go in for the finishing blow.

"Are you ready?" John asked. Harry cleared his mind of all thoughts of winning, and focused instead on defending himself. He nodded, and once again John lunged at him, this time with a slashing motion. Harry deflected this one easily, and when John drew back his bow ken to perform a stab, Harry just moved out of the way and was ready when John turned his stab into a slash. It continued on like this for several moments, until Harry finally saw an opening and struck by throwing his leg out and catching John in a sweep kick. Within seconds, John was on the floor with the tip of Harry's bow ken pointed at his throat. Without realizing how he'd done it, Harry also noticed that John's bow ken was lying several feet away. "Very good Harry," John said as Harry helped him up, "very good indeed, I am glad to see you took on my advice so quickly."

"Thanks John." Harry said as he pulled out his wand and conjured up a couple goblets of water. "I really started to understand what you were saying just before your first attack. Believe it or not, your advice also helped me to figure out a few other things."

---------

Harry sent Hedwig out with the letter to Scrimgeour later that day and began to work on his speech. Hedwig returned the next day with a reply saying that he would need to be present at a gathering for the press the following Monday, which gave him enough time to finish his speech, or so he hoped.

The night before he was to give his speech, Harry was still working on it. "Still having trouble with your speech?" came an all too well-known voice from the doorway into the office he was working in. Harry didn't need to turn around to know that Ginny was standing there.

"I thought that after what John told me the other day it would be easy to write this thing," he told her as he crumpled up the parchment that was in front of him and through it into the wastebasket were there was already a considerable amount of parchment balls, "but the words are just not coming out right." Harry felt Ginny place her hands on his shoulders and start to rub them, "This is just like back in the school I went to before I got my letter from Hogwarts, I can't seem to get the wording right. The only difference is that, unlike back then, I won't have Dudley there to make me nervous as I give this thing."

"Maybe I can help." Ginny offered, "What are you trying to say?"

Harry took a deep breath, "It won't do anyone any good if I praise the Ministry for every decision they have made, but at the same time it won't do any good to criticize them either. I need to find a way to compliment them on the things they have begun to do…"

"Even if it is too late for some of the people that they wrongfully accused." Ginny put in.

Harry nodded, "I also need to figure out a way to criticize them for all of the bad choices they have made over the years."

Ginny thought about this for a moment, "Maybe you are just thinking about this to much. I know that whenever I was working on an essay for one of my classes and I was stuck like you are, I would just clear my mind for a few moments and let it come to me."

Harry turned around and smiled at Ginny, "That is what John told me the other day during our sword lesson, I guess it will work here as well." Harry then stood up and kissed Ginny. When they broke apart, Harry sat back down and started to write again."

---------

Around noon the next day Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny stepped out of the one of the Floo network fires in the Grand Pavilion of the Ministry of Magic. Percy was standing there waiting for them. "Where have you been? It is nearly time to begin." He snapped at them

"Back off Percy we got held up." Ron snapped back at his brother.

Percy just ignored Ron and held out several pieces of parchment to Harry. "What is this?" Harry asked

"It is the statement I have prepared for you." Percy told him, "You had better read over it otherwise…What the hell are you doing?" he asked in shock as Harry pulled out his wand and ignited the speech that Percy had given him.

"Sorry Percy, but I have my own statement I will be reading from." Harry informed him as he dropped Percy's speech onto the floor and let it burn up.

He then headed for the Fountain of Magical Brethren were there was a large crowd gathered. Percy caught up to them just before they reached the back of the group, and muttering incoherently to himself, led the way to a small stage that was set up next to the fountain. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all stood off to the side as Percy stepped up to a podium that was on the stage. "Thank you for coming today," he began, "I am Percival Weasley, the Minister of Magic's personal aid. The reason you have been called here today is for you to hear, and then publish in your various papers a statement that has been prepared by Harry Potter." Percy shot Harry a dirty look, and motioned for him to join him at the podium. "Without further delay, Harry Potter."

There was a short amount of applause as Harry stepped up to the podium. "Thank you." He said as he scanned over the crowd. In the front row, he saw Rita Skeeter sitting there with a piece of parchment on her lap, sucking with obvious relish on the tip of her acid green quill, just before she placed it on the parchment. Deciding he would just ignore Rita if he could, Harry continued, "The reason I am here is that I wanted to give both my praise and criticism," he heard a gasp of surprise and foreboding from Percy at this, "to the Ministry of Magic for the job they have done over the last few years, especially since Volde…sorry, You-Know-Who has returned.

"Let me start by saying that though Rufus Scrimgeour is a much better minister in these times of war than Cornelius Fudge ever was, he has still done his share of mistakes. For instance, the unjustified imprisonment of Stan Shunpike last year was a grave injustice when there are real Death Eaters out there that are actually committing crimes that justify being sent to Azkaban for.

"But I will also be the first to admit that this Zero Tolerance policy of his seems to be a genuine attempt to make up for the mistakes the Ministry of Magic has committed, starting with the actions of Barty Crouch, who sent many people to Azkaban. Now, I am not saying all of those people were not Death Eaters. After all, the people that were picked up with his son after they tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom were most defiantly Death Eaters. But let's also not forget the innocent people that were sent there at that time as well, for instance Sirius Black, the man that was accused of the murder of my parents. Black was framed by Peter Pettigrew, the real person behind the murder of my parents.

"But I am not blaming the Ministry of Magic for all of the wrong's that have been committed there was also others who were behind these things. Lucius Malfoy for one mislead Cornelius Fudge every time he stepped foot here, with the exception of when he was captured last year.

"I also can't forget the injustice the Daily Prophet did to not only my reputation, but also that of Albus Dumbledore's last year, all of which was started by a certain reporter that, even though I would love to let out the identity of, will remain nameless at this time." Harry couldn't help but notice that Rita Skeeter had shifted uncomfortably in her chair. This more than anything else helped him to continue on.

"Then there were the actions of Delores Umbridge, who weaseled her way into Hogwarts under false pretences, and not only nearly failed all of the students that were taking their O.W.L.S and N.E.W.T.S, but also used questionable methods to not only make sure things turned so the Minister would come out smelling like a rose, but to ensure that the truth remained covered up."

Harry looked over at Ron, Hermione, and Ginny and saw they all had smiles on their faces. Percy on the other hand was standing their looking at Harry in disbelief with his jaw hanging open. It was at that time that Harry decided he should rap this up, "In short, no matter how it may sound, I did not come here today to criticize the Ministry of Magic, but to ask they do not repeat the mistakes they have made in the past, and continue to move on in a positive direction. Thank you!" Harry then moved away from the podium and headed over to where the others were standing.

"What the HELL was that?" Percy asked anger evident in his voice.

"It's simple, the only way I could think of to tell everyone that the Ministry is doing a good job, was to outline some of the wrongs they have committed over the last few years." Harry explained.

"I think it was brilliant." Ginny said and it was clear that both Ron and Hermione agreed with this statement.

Percy looked at Harry, then at Ginny, and then Ron, then at Hermione, then back at Harry, and then stormed off. "I don think he liked ya speech Harry." said a familiar voice from behind them.

"Hagrid," Harry said as he and the others walked over to him, "what are you doing here?"

"Came ta hear your speech Harry," Hagrid said as he dug through the many, many pockets on his mole skin overcoat, finally he seemed to find what he was looking for, "and ta give ya this." He handed Harry a small piece of parchment that was folded in half.

Harry opened it up and what was written on it, '_The last Horcrux you are looking for can be found in Little Hangleton, R.A.B._'. "Where did you get this Hagrid?" Harry asked.

"Was tol ta give it ta ya by Professor McGonagall, said she received it by owl yesterday." Hagrid explained. He then pulled out a gold watch from one of his pockets, "Blimmy, is that the time, I had best be off." And before anyone could say anything else, Hagrid disapparated from the spot.

"What does it say Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry handed the note to Hermione, who read it with Ron and Ginny looking over her shoulder. When they had finished reading it they looked up at him, "We go in the day after tomorrow."

**Authors Note:** First off, I would like to point out that the reason this chapter was so long is because I pretty much copied the part in the Pensive word for word from Goblet of Fire, with a few alterations here and there so that it sounded like it was being watched from the outside, instead of from the perspective of Frank Bryce. Second, doing it in that way was the only way that I could think of to properly write out that part, so **_please_ **don't give me reviews saying that it was not right for me to do that. Third I would like to thank everyone that has been reading my story for leaving all of the great reviews (all thirteen of them). I hope to have the next chapter up soon, later.


	10. The Calm Before the Storm

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 10: The Calm Before the Storm**

Harry and Ginny brushed snow off of themselves as they stepped into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes the next day in order to stock up on their supplies. Both Fred and George were still at St. Mungo's, so their best friend from their Hogwarts days, Lee Jordan, was running the shop for them. Lee even had a few new things for them to try. "Fred and George were working on or finishing up some of this stuff when they attacked you," Lee explained as he pulled out a large box from behind the counter, "they told me to give them to you next time you were in, just call it a Christmas present if you want."

"Are you sure they are safe?" Ginny asked.

They all knew why she had asked this. If the twins were still under the Imperious Curse when they told Lee to do this then they would be putting their lives at risk just by using the stuff.

"Quite sure," Lee assured them, "they had Mad Eye Moody and Remus Lupin double check everything in this box. The only thing they found was this stuff would be highly useful in a pinch, or just to pull a prank on some people, and I have tried a few of them out for myself." Lee pulled out a small item that looked like a coach's whistle. "They call this one a Sounder," Lee explained, "you simply tap it with your wand and when you blow it, it will imitate any animal." Lee pulled out his wand and gave the Sounder a tap, then blew into it. Instead of the sound of a whistle, there was a roar like that of a dragon scaring a few customers as they past the counter.

"That's pretty cool." Harry exclaimed, "What else do you have?"

Lee pulled out of the box several tablets, all of them were colored black. "These are the next generation of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder." He explained, handing the tablets to Harry, "Fred and George wanted to make them easier to use, so they encased them in these clear plastic tablets. They then put a spell on them so they would dissolve when they came into contact with anything hard enough."

"I get it," Ginny said as she held one of the tablets up, "the old version of the Instant Darkness Powder could be messy and hard to handle. But these tablets are easy to carry and to use as well."

Harry nodded, "Thanks Lee, we will take the box with us and Lupin can show us how to use the items tonight."

-------------

That evening, after testing most of the items they had gotten from the shop, Harry and Ginny were sitting at the kitchen table while Hermione and Ron told them what they had found out about the town of Little Hangleton and its most famous, not to mention infamous house. "We found out that just over fifty years ago, the entire Riddle family were found murdered in their sitting room by the maid." Hermione told them.

"We also found out that the old muggle we followed around in the pensive was the man that the entire town thought had killed the Riddles." Ron added.

"His name was Frank Bryce," Hermione added, "and the people in Little Hangleton believe he is even guiltier for the crime since his disappearance three years ago, even though the police could never prove he had killed them."

"That sounds just like the way Voldemort works," Harry told them, "he will let somebody else take the blame for his crimes. He did it with his uncle for the same crime and with that house elf when he stole Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket from that Smith woman."

"Well, unlike You-Know-Who's uncle," Ron began, "Frank Bryce was released after the muggle doctors finished their…" He looked at Hermione for help.

"Autopsy!" Hermione finished. "There was no visible evidence of why they had died," she continued, "no stab or gun shot wounds, no sign of poisons, or trauma of any kind, in fact according to the report they were all in perfect health with the exception of course that they were all dead."

"Well I guess that would be about right if Voldemort used the _Avada Kedavera_ on them." Ginny put in.

"What about the house?" Harry asked, "Did you find out anything about it?"

'Plenty," Hermione said, "after the murder of the Riddles, the house was sold to a new family, but they didn't even live there for two months before they moved out."

"It was the same for everyone else that tried to live in that place," Ron continued, "every one of them left within a month or two of moving in."

"The current owner is a wealthy muggle that never uses it," Hermione said, "he even allowed Frank Bryce to stay on as the gardener until he was killed by Voldemort."

"All in all mate," Ron quickly added, "this place has several things in common with the orphanage: they have both been abandoned, and nobody wants to go in."

"And both of them were places that meant something to Voldemort when he was younger." Hermione added, "Unlike the orphanage where he grew up, or the cave where he terrorized those other children from the orphanage, this was where he conducted his first cold blooded murder."

"Sounds like the perfect place for us to find a Horcrux." Harry said.

"When do we leave then?" Ginny asked.

"What's this 'we' business?" Ron asked throwing a furious look in Harry's direction.

"I thought this time I was going with you." Ginny told them.

Harry had been somewhat expecting this since he had told everyone the story while he was in the hospital wing. "Sorry Ginny, but I can't risk taking you with us." Harry told her.

"Because you are afraid I will get hurt," Ginny protested, "in case you don't remember, I was with the three of you when you went to the Ministry of Magic, so you should know I can take care of myself."

"Look at the time," Hermione said as she elbowed Ron in the ribs, "we had better start getting things ready for our trip tomorrow." Without giving Ron a chance to say anything, Hermione pulled him out of the room.

There was an awkward silence in the room during which time Harry looked down at the Daily Prophet and a picture of himself giving his speech at the Ministry, the title "_Potter Criticizes Ministry Policies_" next to the picture.

"So are you going to say anything?" Ginny asked her arms folded over her chest.

Harry tore his gaze from his picture and looked at her, "I know that you want to go and help to recover this Horcrux Ginny," he began, "but…"

"But what?" Ginny interrupted.

"But," Harry began again, "while I was in the hospital wing, just after I told all of you about the Horcruxes, your mother and father came to me and asked that I keep you out of harms way."

"Listen to him Ginny," came a voice from the doorway, "Harry is only concerned with your safety." They both looked in that direction and found John Warrens standing there. "Unlike Harry, Ron, and Hermione, you have not been training for this mission, and, as much as I'd hate to say this, would probably just get in their way."

"Hey," Ginny said anger evident in her voice, "I can take care of myself."

Harry let out a sigh, "Nobody is debating that Ginny, but…"

"But what?" she asked him, the anger in her voice rising.

Harry paused for a moment to choose his next words carefully, finally deciding that the best course of action would be to just let his heart do the talking in this case, "But if anything happened to you while we were retrieving the Horcrux, I would never be able to forgive myself." He walked up to her and took her hands in his own, "Remember on the train when you told me you were not willing to give up on us, and how much you loved me?" Ginny nodded, "Well, what I am doing is just another version of that love that we have for each other, call it selfish if you want to, but I just can't let you get hurt because of something I must do."

"Besides," John added, "if you go along with them, who will be here to greet them when they return with the Horcrux?"

"Alright," Ginny finally told them, "I'll stay here, but I won't like it."

"A friend of mine would tell you that you don't always have to like doing it, as long as it is the right thing to do." John told her.

Ginny glared at John, "If you say so," she then turned back to Harry, "I am going up to my room, goodnight." And she left the room without giving him a kiss.

John, sensing what Harry was thinking spoke up, "She may not understand it now, but someday she will understand Harry."

Harry shrugged, "I hope so. Oh, and thanks for the help there, I'm not sure I would have been able to convince her if you had not arrived when you did." John just gave Harry a smile.

Not that long after Harry decided it was time to head off to bed as well. However, he found something he did not expect when he got to the first floor landing, Ginny sitting at the top of the stairs near Ron's room holding up a flesh colored tube to her ear. As he walked up to her, Ginny noticed him and held her finger up to her lips indicating that he should be quiet and motioned for her to sit down next to her.

When he did this Ginny held the extendable ear so that he could hear what was being said as well. On the other end he could hear Ron and Hermione talking, "I am sorry about that thing with Lavender Brown last year," Ron said, "now that I think about it, I am pretty sure I only got involved with her because of the things Ginny had said when Harry and I caught her snoging Dean Thomas in the secret passage that night."

"That was a rotten reason to get involved with somebody Ron," Hermione said, "but in all honesty, I realize now it was one of the reasons I went to the Yule Ball with Victor Crum and Slughorn's Christmas party last year with Cormac McLaggen."

"And then I considering how much of a git I was both those times, first by only asking you a few days before the Yule Ball, and then having Lavender hanging off my arm for a good part of last year, I guess I can't blame you for what you did." Ron said in a voice that sounded a bit ashamed."

Harry looked down at Ginny and mouthed to her 'What is going on?"

She gave a tug on the extendable ear, which immediately shrunk it back down, then explained, "When I got up here, I figured Hermione was finished with the things she and Ron went off to do so that we could talk. When I didn't find her in her room, I figured she was down here still working on your supplies for tomorrow. After I got down here, Ron's door was ajar just like it is now, and when I stopped to knock on it to let them know I was there, I heard strange sounds coming from inside."

Harry didn't have to be told what was making those sounds, after all he had been expecting this for some time. "All I can say is that it's about time those two got together."

"Yeah, you have no idea what she went through last year when she saw him with Lavender hanging off his arm for most of the year, not to mention when they were snogging each other whenever they were in the common room."

Harry remembered when Hermione sent that small group of small yellow birds after Ron when he and Lavender had started going out, "Oh I think that I have a pretty good idea of what she was going through."

There was a long moment of silence before either of them spoke again, "Harry, I'm sorry about what happened earlier, you and John were right, the three of you have been training for this, and though I have been helping out I have not been training." Ginny looked away, "I just thought that I should let you know about that."

Harry smiled at her then reached into the pockets of his jeans and pulled out a golden locket, the same locket that he and Dumbledore had retrieved from the cave. Reaching around her, Harry connected the chain around her neck.

"What's this?" she asked as she touched the locket.

"It's the locket that Dumbledore and I found in the cave last summer." He told her.

Ginny held the locket up to look at it more closely, "Harry I can't take this,"

But before she could finish saying anything Harry placed his index finger on her lips, "I have been thinking about a good many things ever since I was in the Hospital Wing, and I have been keeping this thing as a reminder of why we are searching for the Horcruxes. But now I realize that I don't need items like this to remind me of the importance of this mission, all I have to do is look into your eyes, or listen to Ron and Hermione argue about unimportant things, watch your mum make a fuse over how we all look, even listen to your dad talk excitedly about anything and everything muggle, stuff like that is all the reminders that I need. So I am giving this thing to you, think of it as an early Christmas gift, or even a very late birthday present."

Ginny smiled up at him, and they kissed. When they finally broke apart Ginny pulled out of her pocket a folded up piece of parchment and handed it to him. "What's this?" Harry asked as he took the parchment from her.

"It's a page out of one of the Gilderoy Lockheart books you gave me just before my first year at Hogwarts." As Harry unfolded the parchment, Ginny continued, "Hermione showed it to me when she first found out that I liked you and told me that it was very appropriate for our situation, particularly now."

Harry looked down at the parchment and read it, when he was finished reading it he looked back up at Ginny and smiled. "I want you to take it with you tomorrow when you go after the Horcrux."

"I will keep it with me tomorrow." Harry told her as he brought her lips to his and they kissed once again.

-----------

Harry woke up very early the next morning and after getting dressed he double checked his bag. In it was his invincibility cloak, several of the darkness pellets that he had gotten from the joke shop along with a set of the special goggles to go with them, one of Fred and George's shield hats, the special walkie-talkie earpiece that Hermione had made for them if they had to split up, and finally Dumbledore's diary.

As he held the book up he thought about that night once again on the astronomy tower when Snape used the killing curse on Dumbledore. Harry quickly shook this out of his mind as he replaced all of the items back into his back and headed down to the kitchen were he, Ron, and Hermione would apperate to the Riddle House in Little Hangleton.

When he got to the kitchen though he found a bit of a surprise, Lupin, Tonks, Mad Eye, and Mrs. Weasley were all there sitting around the table, with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, who Harry noticed was still in her dressing gown covered only by a bathrobe.

As soon as she noticed that he was in the room, Mrs. Weasley rushed over to the counter and brought back a plate of toast and some bacon for Harry. "Thanks Mrs. Weasley." Harry said as he began to apply jam to his toast.

"We have decided that we will be standing by here in case you need us Potter." Mad Eye told Harry.

"We know that you feel that you need to do this on your own Harry," Lupin began, "but after what happened when you retrieved the cup," Lupin looked down at Harry's fully healed hand, and paused for a moment, "well I think you get what I mean."

Harry knew full well what Lupin meant. They perfectly well understood that Harry felt he, Ron, and Hermione had to do this on their own, but at the same time they were leaving the door open in case they were needed. "Thanks, but I think we will be a lot better prepared for this one." Harry said. He couldn't help but to notice that Ron and Hermione looked a little less confident of that than he put on, but he also knew that they were behind him one hundred percent.

They all sat in silence as they finished their breakfast. Finally half and hour later, Harry stood up, and grabbed his bag, "Lets go." He said. Ron and Hermione grabbed their bags as well and joined Harry next to the kitchen door. Though she said nothing, Harry could tell that Mrs. Weasley was doing a very good job of restraining herself, but he could also see that she was ready to burst at any time.

Ginny walked up next to Harry and kissed his cheek, "Be careful." She told him.

Harry gave her a reassuring smile, and then with a nod to both Ron and Hermione they all spun in place and disapparated.

-------------

"So they have finally left," Victor Wu said into his telephone, "ok, let them know that Operation Griffin has started." When Victor hung up the phone, he turned to look at the two men that were in his sitting room, "Potter, Weasley, and Granger have left for Little Hangleton."

"Then it is finally time to proceed," One of the men said, "are you ready for the operation to begin?" he asked the other.

"All is ready to go." The second man said.

The first one nodded, "Then good luck." With those words the second man disapparated from the room with a soft popping sound. The first man then turned back to Victor, "Is your group ready to go?" he asked.

Victor nodded, "We have been ready for this day for over two decades."

"Then my old friend let us begin."

**Authors Note:** Once again, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I have been really busy the last few months and have not found much time for projects like this. I will try to get the next chapter finished a little faster, and would also like to thank the loyal readers that have given me such great feedback. For everyone else, please read and review this story for me, otherwise I can't make it any better.


	11. The House of Riddles

**Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons**

**Chapter 11: The House of Riddles**

It was still dark out when Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared in front of the rundown old cottage that had once belonged to Frank Brice. It was snowing and they all drew their traveling cloaks around them as they made their way up to the large house that was once home to the muggle family of Lord Voldemort. Hermione lagged behind a little to remove their footprints from the snow, just in case any Death Eaters, or any suspicious muggle police officers showed up.

"Ouch!" Ron shouted as he tripped over a tree root that was sticking out of the ground, "Why we can't light our wands so that we can at least see were we are going?"

"Because," Hermione said as she pointed her wand at the spot were Ron had landed and the imprint instantly vanished, "the last thing we need is for anyone to know that we are here."

"Once we get inside we can light our wands," Harry put in, "but for now Hermione is right, lighting them would only put our mission here in jeopardy."

Though by what light was being allowed in through the trees, it didn't look like Ron was entirely convinced of this, he didn't say another word until they got to the house. After making sure that the door was not still unlocked, Harry pointed his wand at the knob and they heard a _click_ as the door unlocked.

Taking one final look around, Harry led the way into the old kitchen, Hermione, who had made sure that all of their footprints were taken care of, closed the door after she entered. Ron immediately held up his wand and muttered "_Lumos_!" A narrow beam of light came out of the tip of Ron's wand and illuminated what was obviously the kitchen.

Harry and Hermione lit their own wands and looked around. The room was fairly large, there was a table lying at an angle on the middle of the room. It was obvious that one of the legs had either been broken off somehow, or had rotted off. Between two sets of cabinets there was an old refrigerator, the door on it was slightly ajar. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust.

"Ok," Harry said after a moment had passed, "it would make more sense for us to split up, each of us taking two floors of this place," he looked at Hermione, "Hermione you take the basement and the ground floor," he turned to face Ron, "Ron you will take the first and second floors, and I will take the third floor and the attic." Both Ron and Hermione nodded their understanding of this plan, and all three of them pulled out the communication earpieces from their bags, "If any of us finds anything, or run into a situation that you can't get out of," Harry told them as he put his earpiece in, "let the other two know." Both Ron and Hermione nodded their understanding as they put in their own earpieces.

Spotting a door on the other side of the kitchen, Hermione headed for it while Harry and Ron walked out of the kitchen, heading for the main stairway. "So what did you and Hermione do after you left me and Ginny last night?" Harry asked conversationally.

By the dim light being emitted from their wands, Harry could tell that Ron had just gone slightly red in the face. "What do you mean?" He asked Harry. It was obvious that he knew perfectly well what he meant by it.

"Well," Harry began trying to find just the right way of saying what he was planning to, "you and Hermione have been spending a lot of time together lately, and isn't very hard to see that you two have feelings for each other, even if you don't always show them." Ron didn't say anything as they began to climb the steps to the first floor, and before they split up Harry decided that he needed to say something, "Just remember that Ginny and I are very happy for you and Hermione if anything does happen between the two of you."

Ron smiled at Harry, "Thanks Harry." He said before he headed off.

Harry continued to climb up the stairs until he reached the third landing. Casting his wand light down the hallway, he saw that there were only three rooms on this floor. It didn't take him long to search the three rooms. Two of them were bedrooms, the old and moth eaten coverings that one of the previous owners had used were still on the beds, and neither of the rooms wardrobes had anything in them except for some cobwebs and a lot of dust. The third room was obviously at one time a small library. This was made obvious to Harry by the bookshelves that lined the walls. Obviously all of the books that had once adorned the shelves had either been removed, when the families that had lived here after the Riddles moved out or the local library, been sold for one reason or another, or had been stolen. The only thing that was still in the room was a painting of Voldemort's father, Tom Riddle Sr.

Before leaving the room, Harry stood in front of the painting and looked up at it, "Some mess your son has made, I hope that you are proud of what he has become, since it was partly because of you." As he approached the door, Harry thought that he heard a derisive snort coming from the direction of the paining. He turned around and focused his wand light on the paining again and stared at it for a moment. The painting did look like it was somewhat different from she he had looked at it moments before.

Shrugging Harry turned around and left the room to check out the attic area. This however proved to be a bit of a waist of time since all that was in the attic was a lot of dust and spiders. As he made his way back to the third floor, Harry activated his earpiece, "Ron, Hermione, did find anything?"

Hermione was the first to answer, "Nothing Harry, except a painting of an old muggle woman that seemed to be following my movements around the room that I am in right now."

"I found the same thing in one of my rooms," Ron said, "only the painting that I found was of an old muggle man."

'This is too much of a coincidence that both Ron and Hermione would find painting in this place as well.' Harry thought, then said "I found one as well, only mine was of Tom Riddle Sr., and I could have sworn I heard it snort at me when my back was turned."

Hermione must have been thinking along the same lines he was, "Maybe you two should go back to the rooms were you all found those paintings, one of them could be the clue that we have been looking for."

Harry wasted no time getting back to the library that he had found. As he walked into the room he once again shined his wand onto the painting of Tom Riddle Sr. and examined it closely. This time he was sure that this was not the same position that Tom Riddle was in when he had last looked at the painting. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, Harry cleared his throat, "Are you alive?" he asked. The painting did not budge, though he thought that he saw the eyes twitch in his direction briefly.

Harry activated his earpiece, "Ron, Hermione are your paintings doing anything?"

Ron was the first to respond, "Mine is just as still as that poster Dean Thomas hangs up in our dorm every year." Harry of course knew what this meant, Dean Thomas was a muggle born student in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's year at Hogwarts, and from the first year that he was there he had hung a picture of the West Ham football team over his bed. Ron, who had grown up in the wizard world, had always thought it was strange to look at a picture and not have it moving all over the place.

"What about you Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Mine isn't moving either Harry, though I don't think that it is in the same position that it was in the last time I looked at it." Hermione told them.

There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke, then Ron said, "Harry try talking to it in Parseltongue."

"That's not a bad idea Harry, Voldemort could have made it so that only a Parseltongue could get a response from the paintings." Hermione added.

Deciding that it couldn't hurt to try, Harry concentrated on talking what he needed to do, and asked once again in a very slow voice, "Are you alive?"

This time the painting did react to the question, "Indeed I am alive." It told Harry in Parseltongue, for he could hear the spits and hisses as the painting spoke to him.

Harry thought through what he was going to say next, then concentrating on speaking in Parseltongue he asked "Do you know were the Horcrux is hidden at?"

The painting looked down at him, just as Ron's voice came over the earpiece, "Harry I don't know what you are doing, but it is making this painting go berserk, it just started shouting out things in Parseltongue." Indeed, Harry could hear some of what the painting was saying, though he could not make out any of the actual words over the earpiece.

"Mine is doing the same thing Harry." Hermione said. Once again Harry could make out that the painting were saying something but could not make out what it was.

Before Harry could say anything to his painting, it started to speak again, "You did not ask properly, and the others that came with you will pay the price if you ask wrong again."

Harry thought about it, somehow he had asked the painting the wrong question, and if he did so again it sounded like the other paintings would attack Ron and Hermione, or maybe something worse would attack them. But how was he supposed to know how to properly ask were the Horcrux was without setting it off. "Ron, Hermione," he finally said after a momentary pause, "I think that I asked my painting the wrong way, I am going to ask it something else, be ready for anything." When both Ron and Hermione told him that they were ready, Harry looked up at the painting and asked in Parseltongue, "How do I ask you properly?"

Tom Riddle Sr. regarded Harry for a second, then answered, "You must ask three times, but only do it once, then you shall have he information that you seek."

Harry stared at the painting for a moment, and then told Ron and Hermione what the painting had told him. Ron was the first one to say something, "You must ask three times but only once, what kind of bloody help it that?"

"Actually," Hermione said, "it is a great help. It's a riddle that means that we have to ask all three paintings at the same time for the information that we need."

"So how do we do that Hermione?" Harry asked.

There was a slight pause as Hermione thought about what needed to be done. "Well," she finally said a bit tentatively, "there is always a transplantation charm."

"A what?" Ron asked

"A transplantation charm," Hermione said again, "it would allow for Harry to temporarily give you and me the ability to speak Parseltongue, unfortunately it is a very difficult charm to both learn and use."

"How difficult?" Harry asked.

"Along the same lines as the Patronus Charm." Hermione told them.

"Well that's just great," Harry said, "it only took me most of our third year to learn how to properly cast a Patronus."

There was another pause as before anyone spoke again, this time it was Ron that spoke up, "I have an idea, Hermione can the volume on these devices that we are using be turned up any higher?"

"Yeah, there is a control for the volume on the bottom of it." Hermione told them uncertainly, "Brilliant Ron!" she exclaimed as she figured out what his idea was.

"Then turn the volume on it us to as loud as it can go Hermione and place it as close to your painting as you can, and I will do the same on my end." Ron told her, "Harry when we give you the signal that we are ready ask it about the Horcrux again."

"Ok." Harry told them, he had caught onto Ron's plan at the same time that Hermione had. When both Ron and Hermione told Harry that they were ready, he looked at the painting of Tom Riddle again and said in Parseltongue, "Tell me were to find the Horcrux."

There was a slight pause before the painting started to speak again, this time it was in perfect English, "You have passed the first obstacle," it said looking down at Harry, "you must now pass three challenges, the first you must face that which moves around but not on legs and has looks that can kill, second you must walk in the name of the Dark Lord in order to continue on, and last you must figure out the shape of things to come. Once you have completed all of these challenges you will face your final obstacle before you can gain the treasure of my dear son."

"So what the bloody hell does that all mean?" Ron asked.

"They're riddles." Hermione said.

"But what do they mean?" Harry asked before Ron had a chance to say anything.

"Not sure," Hermione said, "they could mean anyth…., what was that?"

"What was what?" Ron asked.

Hermione paused briefly before she continued, "I thought that I just heard something in the kitchen."

"Don't move," Harry said, "Ron and I will be right there."

Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on were Hermione was at and spun in place, when he opened his eyes again he found that he was in a sitting room. There was a loud CRACK near him and he knew that Ron had also decided to apperate as well.

Harry wasted no time, "Wands out and be ready for anything." He told Ron and Hermione.

The three of them waited, there eyes on the kitchen door, but nothing came through it. Harry was just about to see if Hermione was hearing things when a loud banging came through the door. "What is it?" Ron asked quietly.

"I've been thinking about that," Hermione told them, "I think that the first of the clues that we were given by the paintings told us exactly what we are up against here."

"How do you figure?" Harry asked.

"Well, think about it," Hermione explained, "we must first face that which moves, but has no legs, just think about it."

Thinking it through, Harry decided that many things can move without legs, a river for one. But he seriously doubted that Voldemort would leave a river to guard his Horcrux, that was just plain stupid. No, it had to be an animal of some kind. He then remembered some of the speech that Voldemort had given to his Death Eater's almost three years ago, 'I sometimes inhabited animals, snakes, of course, being my preference.' And he knew immediately what the creature was that was in the kitchen, "It's a snake." He told them.

Hermione nodded, "But not just any snake either, don't forget about the second part of the clue, 'whose looks can kill', it is referring to a particular type of snake."

"A Basilisk." Ron said.

Another noise came form the kitchen, this one sounding a lot closer to the door. Harry knew exactly what to do. He quickly began to rummage around in his bag for three things, and pulled all three of them out at the same time. "If it is a basilisk," he told them, "then we will need all every advantage that we can get to defeat it."

"The darkness pellets and the goggles to go with them." Ron said with sudden understanding.

"But we still have to take out its most dangerous weapon," Hermione said, "its eyes, then we need to deal with it for good, otherwise it could do some real damage to the village if it were to get out of this house."

At these words Harry reached into his bag once again and pulled out what looked like an ordinary coach's whistle. "Good thinking Harry." Hermione said as he handed it to her.

"I don't understand." Ron said in a confused voice.

With an air of annoyance Hermione explained, "Don't you remember Ron, the crow of a rooster will kill a basilisk."

"And that Sounder that I got from Lee Jordan is the closest thing we have right now to a rooster." Harry said. There was another loud noise from the kitchen, this one seemed like it was right on the other side of the door. With little time to spare Harry decided what to do. "Hermione go and hide behind that old chair, when I give you the signal use the Sounder." He then turned to Ron, "When it enters the room I will use the darkness pellets, then you and I will take out its eyes."

"How are we going to do that?"

"With the only spell that I know that will destroy its eyes, Sectusempera." Hermione looked as if she was going to argue the point, but something hitting the door to the kitchen stop. "Let's move." Harry told them.

Hermione ducked down behind an old chair, while Harry and Ron took up positions in both corners of the room, this would prevent them from accidentally hitting each other with the curse. There was a moment's silence, then suddenly the door burst open and a gigantic snake slithered into the room. The first thing that Harry noticed as he plunged the room into darkness, was that it did not appear to be as large as the one that he had fought in the Chamber of Secrets, but it still have several rows of very sharp, and undoubtedly very poisonous fangs. Without another moment's hesitation, and before it could try to look at him with its deadly eyes, Harry pointed his wand at the giant snake and shouted "_Sectusempera_!" and heard Ron shout it out as well.

The basilisk screamed in pain as its eyes were replaced by two bloody gashes. Not leaving anything to chance though, Harry and Ron both shouted "_Sectusempera_!" again, and two more bloody slashes appeared were the snakes eyes had been. "Now Hermione!" Harry shouted. But this was a mistake, even though the snake was now blinded, it could still hear just fine. With a roar and movements that were fast as lighting, the basilisk was soon on top of Harry. As though this was not bad enough, when it had moved its massive tail had hit the chair that Hermione was hiding behind. When the chair fell, it hit Hermione, who dropped the sounder.

Ron, who had seen this immediately, shouted "_Stupefy_!" shooting a blast of red energy at the basilisk. This however did nothing but enrage the giant snake, who whipped out its tail in Ron's direction, hitting him hard, and sending him flying across the room.

This however was the distraction that Harry needed. Pointing his wand right into the snakes open mouth he shouted, "_Expelliarmus_!" The disarming charm did what Harry had hopped it would and knocked the basilisk off of him. By this time Hermione had located the sounder. She tapped it with her wand and brought it up to her mouth, took a deep breath, and blew. The room was immediately filled with the sound of a rooster crowing. The basilisk roared in pain as Hermione blew on the sounder again. The basilisk tried feebly to swat at Hermione like it had done to Ron, but it was evident that the crows were draining it of its strength, and Hermione dodged the swipe easily. She then brought the sounder back to her lips and blew into it a third time. With this crow, the basilisk fell over hard onto the floor, defiantly dead.

Harry and Hermione quickly rushed over to were Ron was lying on the floor. It became apparent when they saw the imprint that his body made when it hit the wall, just how hard he had been hit by the snake. "All right Ron?" Harry asked as they helped him up.

"Think so," Ron said giving his head a little shake, "but I don't think that I will want to do that again anytime soon." He then looked over at the lifeless form of the basilisk, "So what are we going to do with that?"

"Leave it to me." Hermione said, as she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the giant snake. With a swish of Hermione's wand the basilisk was gone, in its place was a giant pile of dust.

"I think that I have told you this before," Ron said as Hermione turned back to them, "you're a bit scary, brilliant, but scary." Harry figured that if it wasn't for the fact that the room was still pitch black, he would have seen Hermione blush bright red.

Not wanting to waist any time though, Harry led the other two into the kitchen, were they pulled off their goggles and began to look around. It didn't take them long to find that the old refrigerators door was now wide open, and there appeared to be a passage way of some kind inside of it. Lighting their wands again, they entered the passage.

It was only about half way down the passage that Ron asked, "So what do you think that 'We must walk in the name of the Dark Lord to continue on' means anyway?"

"I guess we will find out what that one means when we get to the end of this passage." Harry said. In no time at all they emerged from the passage into a large chamber. It was evident as soon as they stepped into the chamber that this was where the basilisk had lived. Tiny bones littered the floor, and much to Ron's pleasure, there were no spiders in sight. Spiders considered the basilisk their mortal enemies and often scurried away from them as fast as their little legs could carry them. On the other side of the chamber was a doorway.

As if sensing their presence in the chamber, the door swung open as they approached. "Wand's out!" Harry told Ron and Hermione more out of reflex then anything else since they knew full well to be on guard and ready for anything. But as they entered the next chamber, this one being only a fraction of the size of the one that the basilisk had lived in, all they found was another door on the other side of the room.

Ron made for the door but Harry and Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him back just in time to miss a large stone pillar that had shot down from over their heads and smashed into the floor with enough force that it would have crushed him without even slowing down. "Thanks you two." Ron said as he wiped off some sweat that he had just noticed on his brow.

"Just be more careful next time." Hermione said as she stooped down to look at the floor. "Look at this," she told them, "there are letters on the floor."

Harry considered it for a few seconds, "That's it!" He exclaimed, "We have to walk in the name of the Dark Lord in order to continue on."

"Of course," Hermione said, "it all makes sense now."

"What does?" Ron asked obviously having not picked up on what they had to do yet.

"It's quite simple," Harry explained more for Ron's sake than for Hermione's, and pointed to the tiles with letters on them, "each of those tiles represent a letter in a word that we have to spell out in order to get across this room."

Comprehension was evident on Ron's face, "You mean that we have to Spell out You-Know-Who's name in order to get across this room." Harry nodded to Ron, "Well, that sounds simple enough."

"Yes," Hermione said with a touch of concern in her voice, "almost too easy, especially based on what we have had to go through so far in order to get this Horcrux."

Ron gave Hermione his usual exasperated look, "Come off it," he told her, "maybe You-Know-Who was slipping when he made this protection."

"No," Harry told Ron in a matter of fact way, "I think that Hermione is right about this one. Look at how many tiles are on the floor, then count the number of letters in Voldemort's name." Ron gave an involuntary shudder, "Even if we use Lord Voldemort, there are still to many letters."

"Then what does that mean?" Hermione asked.

Harry thought about it for a moment, then it hit him, "Back in our second year, after I destroyed the Horcrux that was in that diary, Dumbledore had told me that not many people knew that Voldemort had been known at one time as Tom Riddle. And earlier in the Chamber he had used my wand to write his name in the air." Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, excitement growing him as he put all of the pieces together. "Don't you see, if you add 'I am' to Lord Voldemort, then rearrange the letters, you get Tom Marvolo Riddle."

With sudden realization Hermione said in an almost awed voice, "Voldemort is an anagram for his real name."

Harry nodded, "And I bet that is what we have to spell out Tom Marvolo Riddle in order to get to that door over to that door."

"It still sounds a bit too easy Harry." Hermione told them.

But before Hermione or Ron could come up with a better idea of what to do, Harry located and stepped onto the tile that had a T on it, and found that it was just barely big enough for him to stand on. Ignoring Hermione's protests that he should have waited for, Harry lit his wand and proceeded to locate the tile with the O on it. He stepped onto it, then proceeded to the tile with the M on it. Before going on he turned to look at the others. "Stay there until I get to the other side, then come over yourselves." The looks on Ron and Hermione's faces told him that they understood his instructions, and he turned back to look for the next letter M. He found it and jump to it, then proceeded to the A-R-V-O-L-O then R-I-D-D-L-E, from the last tile he jumped to solid floor with no tiles on it.

"Ok Hermione you next." Harry called out.

Hermione made to step on the tile with the T on it, when suddenly all of the letters rearranged themselves into a different pattern. Seeing this, Ron called back to Harry, "Harry, there might be an easier way to do this mate." He pulled out of his bag a couple of decoy detonators, and held them up for Harry to see. "Try doing a summoning or levitation charm on one of these."

Harry saw this for what it was, an attempt to see what would happen if they tried an easy solution to this problem. After all he had done the same thing in the cave with Dumbledore, and he and Hermione had tried it as well on the cup in the orphanage. Raising his wand, but at the same time thinking that this would more than likely not work, Harry shouted, "_Accio_!" and one of the detonators shot from Ron's hand and out over the tiles.

It cleared the first two rows before WAM, a pillar just like the one that had nearly crushed Ron a few moments before shot down at the detonator and smashed it. A muffled BANG could barely be heard from under the pillar. Ron had a disappointed look on his face, but Hermione's expression was just the opposite. "Harry try that again, but this time use a levitation charm."

"Why?" he asked confusion evident in his voice.

"You will see," she told him in her matter of fact tone that reminded him so much of Professor McGonagall, "just be sure that you start it here," she pointed down at the tile that she was standing in front of, "then, as best you can to that one," she pointed to the tile one up and to Harry's right of the first tile, "and finally that one." She pointed at one final tile that was one up and to his left. "I will explain after you do it Harry." Hermione told him.

Shrugging, Harry pointed his wand at the remaining detonator, which Hermione had taken from Ron and was now holding up for him, and said, "_Wingardium Leviosa_!" The detonator rose up in the air, and Harry guided over the tiles that Hermione had pointed out. After it passed the third tile though its fate was the same as the other detonator as it was smashed by a stone pillar that shot down on top of it. Harry looked back at Hermione, "Now what was that all about?" he asked.

"As we know by now, we have to follow the same path that you did in order to get to the other side of this chamber Harry," Hermione said, but before Harry or Ron could say anything she continued, "naturally Voldemort would have expected anyone that made it this far to have either had very good luck, or an inside knowledge of how he thinks and works, not to mention some information about his background."

"What's your point Hermione?" Ron asked before she could go on.

"My point," Hermione continued giving Ron a dirty look as she did so, "is that he would have made sure that there was only one was across this room, but at the same time force anyone that made it this far to take a different way each time. That was why the letters rearranged themselves when Harry made it to the other side." She paused for a few seconds to let this sink in and give either Harry or Ron a chance to make a comment, but when none came she continued, "He would have also made it so that if one of any group that came after this Horcrux made it over that person could not help the others get over."

"Will you please get to the point already." Ron told her in an exasperated sounding voice.

"The point," Hermione continued, shooting another dirty look at Ron, "is that Voldemort must have placed some sort of magical sensors in the ceiling of this chamber in order to make sure that nobody could do what we just attempted to do, otherwise one of those pillars will come down and crush them."

"But what about the first detonator, it made it to the third row of letters before it was smashed." Harry called to them.

"I think that it only made it that far because it was moving quite fast. As you may recall the second detonator followed the path that I told you to take Harry and it made it to the fourth row before it was crushed." Hermione explained to them, "I think that as Harry suggested the only safe way to get across is to spell out Voldemort's real name, no matter how the letters are arranged on the floor."

"Couldn't you have just said that to begin with instead of giving us a bloody lesson." Ron said a bit heatedly.

This time Hermione didn't say a thing, she just started hoping from tile to tile, until she reached Harry on the other side of the chamber. "Your turn Ron." Harry called over.

Ron waited for the tiles to reset themselves, then after locating the first letter hoped onto it. He was doing just fine until he reached the second letter in Marvolo and froze in place trying to think how to spell it. "Ron, Marvolo is spelled just like it sounds, look for an R, then V-O-L-O." Hermione called to him. Ron in the mean time held his lit wand up so that he could see all the better, and stepped onto the R. After that it didn't take him long to reach the other side were Harry and Hermione were waiting for him.

As soon as he stepped off the final letter the door that was behind them opened to reveal the next chamber. Harry led the way into the chamber and found that the only thing in this room was what looked like and alter. "What was the clue for this obstacle?" Harry asked.

"Just that this obstacle would reveal the shape of things to come." Hermione said as she stepped up next to Harry to look around. All three of them walked up to the alter and looked down at it. There was three items on top of it, all of them covered with a thin layer of dust. The first item was a block with multiple colors on it, the colors all being mixed up. The second were two horseshoes linked together by two short chains with a ring that was looped around the chains. The last one looked like it was nothing but an old jigsaw puzzle. Ron picked up the horseshoe and looked at it closely, "Now this is bazaar." He told them as he held it up for them to see.

"Not really," Hermione said, once again in her matter of fact voice, "my parents have similar things in there office, it helps the patents to get their minds off of the filling that they lost, or the fact that they are going to have to have a root canal done to them."

Harry was barely listening, he had just noticed that there were three shapes on the alter, one was a square shape, the second was a ring shape, and the last one looked like a triangle shape, only it looked like it might be deeper than it appeared to be just by looking at it. Apparently Hermione and Ron had noticed that he was staring at the alter, and when they looked down at it they saw that shapes as well.

"Ok," Harry finally told them, "I think that I have this one figured out." He pointed down at the shapes on the alter, "We have to figure out these puzzles and then place them in the appropriate slots when we finish with them."

"So how do we decide who does what puzzle?" Ron asked.

"Honestly Ron," Hermione told them, "we do the puzzles that we are going to have the easiest time doing. Like for instance, that puzzle that you are holding, I can more than likely figure that one out in no time, ouch!"

"What happened?" Harry asked looking over at Hermione, who was nursing her fingers.

"Don't know, when I reached for the puzzle I got a bit of an electric shock." Hermione explained to them, "The puzzles must be enchanted so that they can only be solved by the person that first touched them."

"You mean that I am stuck doing this thing?" Ron asked.

"Looks like it." Hermione said, she then looked at Harry, "That just leaves the cube and jigsaw puzzles for us to do."

There was no choice as far as Harry was concerned as he reached out and took the cube puzzle. "Dudley got one of these at a party he went to several years ago. I found it in pieces though a couple of days later and was able to put it back together. I actually got quite good at solving it before Dudley found out that I had it and told Uncle Vernon." He explained to Hermione.

"Well then, that just leaves the jigsaw puzzle for me." Hermione said as she pulled the box to her and opened it up.

"YOU HAVE EACH CHOSEN A PIECE OF THAT WHICH YOU NEED TO MOVE TO THE FINAL CHALENGE," a booming voice said out of nowhere, an hourglass then appeared in front of them hanging in midair, "THEREFORE YOU MUST FINISH YOUR RESPECTIVE ITEMS IN THE SET TIME LIMIT, OR YOU WILL BE LOST FOREVER." The hourglass then flipped over and sand began to trickle down.

Not wasting any time, Harry set to work on the cube puzzle. As he worked on it he stole quick glances at Ron and Hermione to see how they were doing. Within minutes Hermione had the outside of the puzzle already put together and was then working on the inside of it. Ron on the other hand was having no luck at all figuring out his puzzle. Harry knew this because Ron's ears were turning red, this meant that though he was working hard to figure out the puzzle, he would much rather have chucked it away. It also didn't help that all of the kept looking at the hourglass every few seconds to see how much time they had left.

Forcing himself to concentrate on the cube, Harry soon hade three of the sides one solid color, and was working on the forth when Hermione had put the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle in place and out of it came a pyramid shape. She quickly took the pyramid and placed it in the triangular slot on the alter, and the booming voice came back, "YOU HAVE FINISHED THE FIRST ITEM. TWO ITEMS REMAIN TO BE FINISHED." Hermione then made to help Ron with his puzzle, but was stopped by some sort of barrier, the booming voice then returned, "YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR PART OF THE CHALENGE YOU MAY NOT HELP WITH ANY OTHER PART OF IT!"

With this Harry stole a quick look at the hourglass and saw that over half their time was now used up. He returned to work on the puzzle and soon had the fourth side of the puzzle one solid color. Now came the tricky part, finishing the remaining two sides.

Hermione on the other hand was watching Ron with increasing fear on her face. He had come no closer to figuring out the solution to the puzzle, and the fact that he kept looking at the hourglass was a sure sign that he didn't think that he could figure it out in time. Meanwhile, in what Harry could only consider record time, he gave the cube one last twist and quickly put it into the square slot on the alter.

Once again the booming voice filled the chamber, "YOU HAVE FINISHED THE SECOND ITEM. ONE ITEM REMAINS TO BE FINISHED."

Ron was starting to look really worried by this point, as the hourglass continued to filter down, just over three quarters had already fallen through to the bottom, and there was nothing that Harry or Hermione could do to help him with his puzzle. "What does he have to do to get that ring off?" Harry asked Hermione in as low a voice as he could.

"It's quite simple, all he has to do is to twist the two horseshoes so that the two chains are twisted, and then sliding one of the ends through the ring bring them together. If he did it right, the ring will be completely free of the horseshoe." Hermione explained, "Actually it is quite an ingenuous obstacle for Voldemort to have used, it requires both logic and common sense, and as I told you back in our first year, most wizards don't have or use either one."

"There has to be something that we can do to help him." Harry said as he saw that Ron's ears had turned an even deeper shade of red than before. Then it hit him, something that might very well help Ron to focus on the task at hand. Looking at the hourglass he knew didn't have time to tell Hermione his plan. Hoping that Hermione would pick up on it he took in a deep breath and started to sing, "Weasley is our king, Weasley is our king, he didn't let the Quaffle in Weasley is our king."

Hermione looked at Harry, and then smiling started to sing as well. Ron looked at both of them for a few seconds and smiled himself. He then looked down at the puzzle with a renewed sense of purpose, and just as the last of the sand started to slip though the hourglass, Ron gave the puzzle a twist and slid the ring right off of it. Without wasting any time he moved to the alter and placed the ring in its slot just as the last grain of sand passed through to the bottom of the glass.

The booming voice then returned "YOU HAVE COMPLETED THIS CHALENGE, BUT ONLY ONE OF YOU CAN PROCEED TO THE FINAL CHALENGE," another door on the opposite side of the room opened up, "IF THAT ONE FAILS, THE OTHERS WILL BE GIVEN A CHANCE TO DO WHAT THEIR COULIGUE COULD NOT. NOW CHOOSE WHO WILL GO FIRST!"

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, "No choice really, this is my job, so I will go first."

"We know Harry," Hermione said, "just be careful."

"Yeah, good luck mate." Ron told Harry as he slapped him on the shoulder.

Without another word Harry walked up to the door that had just opened, and with one final look at Ron and Hermione, who were both getting out their earpieces just in case, he walked through the door. Expecting another tunnel leading into another chamber, Harry was surprised to find that he had instantly been taken to the room were they had killed the basilisk.

Looking down at his watch Harry realized that it was almost noon. They had been down in those caves for hours. Bringing himself back to the task at hand Harry scanned the room and soon found something odd, all three of the paintings were now floating in midair in front of him.

"You have survived the challenges that were set in front of you." Voldemort's Grandfather said.

"Now your final task is at hand." Said Voldemort's Grandmother.

"Prepare yourself for the final obstacle, for if you solve this final riddle right my dear son's treasure to will receive, but if you guess wrong, you will join those that have come before you in oblivion." Tom Riddle Sr. said, then as if he had been practicing this for a long time recited, "The first of us to see…"

"Was the first of us to know…"

"Was the first of us to die…"

"And was the first one to join this band…"

Harry stared at the three paintings intently, he knew that he had a one in three chance of getting this riddle right on the first try. The clues were obvious, he had to guess which of them was the first one that Voldemort murdered over fifty years ago. His first choice had to be Tom Riddle Sr. He was the one that Voldemort would of hated the most being that he was his father. But there was also the fact that Voldemort could have run across one of his grandparents as well before he got to his father.

As he considered this, Harry caught movement out of the corner of his eye and thought that he saw some sort of shadow outside of the window, but when he looked at it properly, he saw that nothing was there. He turned back to the three paintings, and saw something weird, the painting of Tom Riddle Sr. was glowing brightly. The other two paintings hadn't noticed anything though, and without knowing why he did it, pointed at Tom Riddle Sr.

The other two paintings then fell to the floor, as Tom Riddle's floated over to the wall and attached himself to it. Then swung forward reveling a secret compartment in the wall were a golden medallion sat. Harry rushed over to the compartment and tentatively reached into it and took hold of the medallion and pulled it out. He examined it and saw that there was a picture of an eagle with an R superimposed over it. This item obviously had once belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw.

Smiling broadly Harry had just reached into his pocket to pull out his earpiece when there was a loud CRACK and both Ron and Hermione were standing there in front of him. "What happened?" Ron asked as he looked around the room.

"I got it." Harry told them as he held up the golden medallion for them to see.

"Well," Hermione began, "I guess that answers the question of whether Voldemort found anything that belonged to Ravenclaw."

"Yeah," Harry put in, "it also means that we are one step closer to finishing him off for good."

"Then lets get back to Grimmauld Place," Ron told them, "I'm starving."

Smiling at Ron, Harry and Hermione took up positions on either side of him, and concentrating on their destination all three of them closed their eyes and spun in place. When they opened them again they did not find things as they had left them.


End file.
